Vanderdeken's Children

by Christopher Bulis

  Rexton simply strode away down the corridor, Bendix beside him. Dessel motioned the others on, then took up the rear, carrying his shoulder-slung rifle at the ready, turning every few paces to check behind them.

  The corridor ran on for over a hundred metres, giving the illusion they were crossing a very long hump-backed bridge. Halfway along it a large plaque was mounted on the wall, covered with more of the shapes they had seen on the hatch keypads, plus an array of additional geometric symbols. Lyset photographed it.

  'Well, Doctor?' Rexton asked expectantly.

  'Sony?' said the Doctor, who had been tilting his head and squinting at the jumble of symbols.

  'What does it say?'

  'I don't know. I can't read it.'

  'Not even the numbers?'

  "They're not numbers.'

  'But they're the same symbols as on the keypads. We assumed -'

  'It can be dangerous to assume anything. They're all letters.'

  'But then if you deciphered the keypads, why not this?'

  'Because it's gibberish.'And he smiled, as though inviting Rexton to join in his appreciation of the joke the universe was playing on them. Rexton merely glowered and stomped away.

  As they continued along the corridor Sam whispered to the Doctor, 'I thought you could read almost any language.'

  'Not if it contains no intelligence.That display really was nonsense.'

  'Then why put it up there?'

  The Doctor didn't answer.

  Sam became aware of a deep, slow, throbbing pulse that reverberated through the thin air and along the floor from somewhere ahead of them.The end of the tunnel came into view and they approached cautiously.The space beyond widened and suddenly they were standing on a gallery encircling an open shaft as wide as the landing bay. Above were more galleries linked by long spiral ramps. The centre of the shaft was half filled with massive conduits made of glass or plastic which glowed with multicoloured inner light. Between them were glittering metal grids, lenses and mirrors, all set at angles as though to deflect energy out of the vertical shaft and off to the sides.

  'Hell of a setup,' Delray exclaimed, as Lyset began snapping away at the scene.

  'If this is a power plant, then it's like nothing I've ever seen before,' Manders admitted.

  Rexton looked about him in silent awe and satisfaction.

  Sam stepped over to the gallery rail and peered upward.The jumble of pipes and lenses seemed to blur into a haze high above her.

  'It must run right up the centre of the tower,' she said.

  She looked down. The strange array of conduits ran into darkness, like pipes disappearing into a well. In fact, she could almost imagine she could see reflections of water in the distance. She narrowed her eyes. There really were sparkles of light down there - blurred streaks of softly scintillating colour that seemed to drift at some indeterminate level. She realised the Doctor was by her side following her gaze.

  'Is that the main tunnel that runs through the ship?' Sam wondered.'

  'I think so.'

  'But it's open to space at either end. I suppose there must be a pressure curtain or something keeping the air in here.'

  'Or something,' the Doctor agreed. He sounded distracted and was staring intently into the inky blackness.

  'And what are those coloured lights?' she asked.

  'I rather think they're stars.'

  'What?'

  The others had heard him too, and suddenly he was the focus of attention for several incredulous faces.

  'You'll see,'he said.'Come on!'

  And before she could ask any more, he was bounding up the nearest ramp to the next level. The others followed after him in confusion.

  The gallery above was crossed by one of the conduit arrays running off the central shaft.The core of this was a tube of silvery wire mesh, surrounded by a framework of supporting struts.The Doctor followed it along a radial corridor and into a large semicircular room.The open end of the tube faced an array of angled mesh panels mounted on a solid-looking black plinth.

  These seemed to serve as prisms and mirrors to whatever energy was being guided down the conduit, for smaller conduits radiated out from it into half a dozen large banks of twisted green, bronze and silver machinery which were ranged in an arc about the walls of the room.

  Sam walked over to one of them. Its control panel was patterned with large, round, multicoloured buttons arranged in short arcs, together with circular glass display screens, all labelled with embossed lines of the unreadable alien script. The floor between the freestanding equipment was laid out with grids and track lines, presumably indicating the paths of reflected or refracted beams. Set along these lines were mounted blocks and panels of various materials, as though they might be test targets for exposure to the beams. Manders was examining one of these curiously. 'It seems fibrous, like dried moss and plant stems. What would anybody want with that?'

  Then Sam realised where the chamber was situated.

  'This is the inside of one of those projecting fins higher up the tower,' she said. 'I wondered what they were for.'

  'Laboratories or control rooms, I should think,' said the Doctor. 'They're probably arranged like this so they can be tilted to compensate for gravity shifts - did you notice the overlapping segmentations along the entrance corridor?' He ducked nimbly under the mesh tubes so that he could examine the strange machinery more closely. "They tap the central core for energy to run experiments, and probably also feed modulated power or matter back into it to control the shaft potentials.'

  'But why? What's its function?' Manders demanded. 'What's this whole ship meant to do?'

  The Doctor bunked at them in genuine surprise. He really forgets how different he is sometimes, Sam thought. I really forget.

  The Doctor looked at Rexton.'You know, don't you?' he said.

  'What do I know, Doctor?' Rexton replied impassively.

  The Doctor sighed.'Yes, I was afraid you did. Well there's no point in keeping it a secret then. Obviously this whole ship is an experimental hyperspatial bridge.'

  ***

  They placed the strips of explosive Tane had requested in a large circle inside the rim of the hatchway. Not trusting to electronic detonators or command wires, they were using a simple chemical fuse. From the shuttle cabin, Argen saw Corporal Martel pull the activator toggle. The squad withdrew in close order, eyes always scanning the shadows for the unknown enemy that had killed their comrades.They disappeared from view beneath the curve of the hull and a moment later he felt the thud of their boots on the ramp. As soon as the HATCH SEALED light blinked on, Argen cut in the underjets and they lifted clear. Five hundred metres up he banked into a wide circle so they could watch the hatch site below them. In a few minutes they would have opened a way into the alien ship. If any of their comrades were still alive that was the only place they could have been taken. And they were going after them.

  ***

  'You can't be serious,' Delray said incredulously.

  'If the Doctor says this is a hyperspatial bridge, then you'd better believe it,' Sam told him.

  'I've heard all the usual theories and rumours about such things,' Manders said. 'But as far as I know nobody's ever come up with anything practical.'

  'I didn't say this construction was practical,' the Doctor corrected her. 'I said it was experimental. In fact elements of it look ill-conceived and quite unstable.'

  'But this is alien technology,' Manders protested. 'How can you possibly understand any of it after two minutes' examination?'

  'I travel a lot,' the Doctor said lightly. 'One picks these things up.' His eyes found Rexton's and a new compelling tone entered his voice. 'And based on that knowledge I tell you that this ship is dangerous. There are forces here you cannot comprehend. I would strongly advise you to leave it be.'

  They all sensed the conviction behind his words. Rexton was staring at him intently now, as though weighing every nuance and inflection of his words.

  "Th
en you really claim to know how all this works?'

  The Doctor took the room in with an appraising glance. 'I dare say I could reason most of it out.'

  'Then you can explain it to me.'

  The Doctor shook his head. 'Apart from the matter of technical comprehension, there would be no point. This machine must not be used.'

  Rexton's hand moved to rest on the butt of his bolstered sidearm and the others lapsed into a shocked silence. Sam's eyes widened in horror.

  'Oh, very clever!' she began, taking a step towards him. 'Threaten a Federation Moderator, why don't you?'

  'Don't underestimate the lengths I am prepared to go to in the service of my homework!,' Rexton warned her. 'I cannot risk this ship falling into the Nimosians' hands. If there is power here then I must have it for Emindar.'

  'Power,' said the Doctor, almost sardonically. 'This place must be destroyed

  - that way neither Emindar nor Nimos stands to gain anything at all, apart from the safety of everyone here. Isn't a resumption of the status quo preferable to the risk of going to war once again?' 'When you're a soldier you learn to take risks,' Rexton told him. 'You also learn when to withdraw gracefully,' the Doctor said, his voice hard.'You see, I've also been a soldier. I have fought in wars you have never even heard of. And I assure you this craft is not a weapon you can use.' His face softened a little.'Now, we are going to find the main power source and see about shorting it out so that neither you nor the Nimosians will be tempted into making a catastrophic mistake.' He looked at Rexton's gun. 'I don't really believe you will shoot me in the back for doing that.'

  Sam stared hard at Rexton. For agonising seconds Rexton's hand hovered over his holster. Finally, it dropped aside.

  'I thought not,' said the Doctor, no trace of triumph in his voice. 'Come on, Sam.'

  Just then a faint, sharp shudder passed through the frame of the ship.

  "That was an explosion,' Rexton snapped.'Maybe the Nimosians are up to something.' His lips pinched and he appeared to reach a decision.

  'Manders, you and your team examine the equipment in here. There may not be much time but anything you find out may be useful. You!' He stabbed a finger at Lyset Wynter. 'Take pictures of everything she tells you to. Cover the shaft outside as well, especially those power linkages, or whatever they are. Then we'll go to the central control complex.'

  Lyset nodded, rapidly inserting a fresh film cartridge into the camera.

  Rexton continued to rap out orders.

  'Dessel and Bendix, you're with me.We'll scout the other side to see what the Nimosians are up to.' He eyed Delray, who up until now had been following quietly along beside Lyset, speculatively. 'Want a chance to show that those vid heroics weren't just play-acting, mister?' Delray stiffened. 'I'm with you, General.'

  'Good.' Rexton spared Sam and the Doctor a passing glance. 'It seems that you won't have time to sabotage anything after all, Doctor. Now if you won't help, stay out of our way.'

  But the Doctor wasn't paying attention. His head was cocked sideways and his eyes were narrowed. 'Listen,' he hissed.

  There was a change in the power hum coming from deep within the bowels of the ship. A new higher-pitched whine so faint as to be on the limits of hearing. But even as Sam strained to make it out it grew steadily stronger.

  'Either some automatic system has cut in, or the shock of the explosion has disturbed something,' the Doctor said. 'Perhaps we'd better -'

  With a crack of displaced air the mesh conduit leading into the room from the central shaft lit up with a green radiance. It struck the primary deflector array and split into half a dozen secondary beams that stabbed out across the chamber into the hulking machines set about the walls. As though stimulated by this sudden influx of power, lights began to show on their display panels.

  'Don't touch the beams!' the Doctor shouted. 'Carefully duck under them and make for the doorway.'

  With a slight hum a pair of the intermediate standing grids began to turn, creating new patterns of crossing beams that swept about the room.

  'They must be working on a preprogrammed sequence,' the Doctor said.'Be careful or else - Sam, get down!'

  But it was too late. One of the traversing beams struck her in the back as she tried to take cover behind a target panel. She froze rigid even as another beam touched the panel itself. The light exploded in her mind and her consciousness seemed to dissolve away.

  ***

  Lyset Wynter saw Sam and the target panel haloed in cold green fire. The panel bowed and split, then burst into powdery dust. Sam screamed and her suit seemed to collapse inward, falling to the floor in a shrunken crumpled heap.

  Then the power hum died away and the beams vanished, leaving ghostly afterimages floating before their eyes.

  In three long strides the Doctor reached Sam's body and knelt beside her, the others gathering about him. Sam's helmet appeared to be empty. With frantic haste the Doctor unlatched the clips and tore it off.There was nothing inside. He let out a stifled groan of anguish.

  'Sam. Sam, Sam... Oh,no... I'm so -'

  Then the chest of the suit stirred. Slowly a mop of tousled blonde hair appeared above the collar ring. It was followed by the frightened face of a ten-year-old child.

  Whose features were unmistakably those of Sam Jones.

  Chapter 10

  Brothers

  Rask Chen was playing pitch and catch withTalek.As usual Talek was throwing the ball wide and much too hard - he always had been the stronger one even though he was a year younger. Rask sucked his smarting fingers.

  "That's too hard.And don't throw so high.We'll lose the ball over the fence, and you'll have to fetch it this time. I'm not knocking on old Parche's door again.'

  'But I had to get your attention, Rask,' his brother said. 'It's really important.'

  'What d'you mean?' Rask said absently, looking around him. Now he had lost the ball. It must have fallen in one of the felchia beds. He bent down and pushed his way between the stalks, peering into the cool green-tinted world under their broad leaves.

  'You've got to get away from here,' he heard Talek say. 'It's dangerous.'

  'Don't be stupid.The thorns aren't hard yet.' He still couldn't see the ball. He pressed forward further, trying not to break the stems. His mother had told him off about that before.

  'No.Away from the alien ship.That's what's dangerous.'

  'What alien ship?'

  'You know. Please listen to me.'

  Something was very wrong. The felchia bed was not this deep. He felt the mustiness of the earth and the heavy pollen catching in his throat. He tried to edge his way out, but something was holding him back.

  'Talek - help me!'

  The felchia were closing in on him, suffocating him under their heavy leaves...

  'It's all right, Rask,' he heard Talek say. He felt a hand clasp his. 'All right Rask... Rask!'

  He jerked himself awake choking, throwing back the bedcovers.

  He was not a boy any more but Second Lieutenant Navigator Chen.

  Around him was the night-lit cabin on the Indomitable that he shared with Lieutenant Borix. Automatically he reached for the comm-unit button, thinking there was a message playing on it from his brother Talek. But the unit was inactive.

  He sank gratefully back on to his pillow, and realised he was soaked with sweat. He glanced at the glowing time display beside the bedhead. The alarm hadn't sounded yet. He had plenty of time for a proper shower before he was due on watch.

  The shower, alternately hot and cold, revived him. He came out of the tiny washroom cubicle towelling his hair and feeling more like his normal self.

  'Shower's free,' he said, then bit back his words. It was the same phrase he had spoken a hundred times to Borix - except that Borix was on second watch and the room was quite empty. But he had spoken because the room had somehow felt occupied.

  He thought about his brother. Rask had received a spacegram from him a month ago but it had been half a year since
they had been together. Talek Chen was a marine corporal on the Starflre at least thirty light years away somewhere on the other side of Nimosian-controlled space.

  Rask dressed uneasily, trying not to keep turning his head in response to the persistent itch between his shoulder blades. He made himself take the time to check that his uniform was all correct in the mirror, just to prove to himself that he was too sophisticated and intelligent to be frightened by stupid dreams.

  Moving with deliberate care, he opened the door, turned off the cabin light and stepped outside.

  'Rask,' came his brother's voice, whispering from the darkness behind him.

  He bolted down the corridor.

  Chapter 11

  A Patriot's Tale

  Sam Jones was terrified. She didn't know where she was or how she'd got there. It wasn't her room at home. It was filled with odd shapes and lights in the ceiling. She was dressed in clothes that seemed far too big, which bunched up around her. Strange people in spacesuits, just like she'd seen on the telly, were looming over her and all speaking at once.What was happening? She started to cry.

  Then a voice cut through the babble.

  'Sam. Sam, listen to me.'

  It was a wonderful reassuring voice.The face, what she could see of it within the strange helmet, was full of concern. He had a long proud nose and eyes that seemed to shine from within. As she looked into them her panicky breathing slowed and the tears subsided.

  'Sam,' the man continued in the same gentle tone. 'I know you must be feeling very confused and frightened. But you're quite safe and nobody's going to hurt you.There's been an accident. It wasn't your fault. I want you just to lie still for a few minutes while I try to put things right. Can you do that for me?'