Lanchard had been expecting something like this and was ready with a suitable reply.
'Our government disputes your right to any claim on this sector of space, but, in addition to that, be informed that we cannot leave. First, our main drive is under repair and won't be fixed for another day at least. Second, we have a shuttle down inside the alien vessel on a humanitarian mission.
They are looking for some of our passengers and crew who have been abducted by hostile forces. You can check with the Indomitable .They saw what happened and have a shuttle down there as well. Now if you will excuse me I have a ship to run.'
She cut the connection, wondering whether Mokai was merely being perverse or hadn't been fully briefed on the latest situation. A sudden thought struck her and she called up the purser's office.
'Have the last of the Federation passengers transferred to the Hermes yet, Oscar? No? Good. Lose their baggage. That's right. And don't find it again until I tell you.'
She switched to engineering. 'Nel, send a tech to the docking port. Make sure there's a problem with the tubes to theHermes . Yes, you heard: find a problem. Anything, just keep that ship next to us until further notice.'
Suddenly Captain Sargro and his ship had become their best insurance against the Nimosians. They wouldn't dare try anything while a neutral Federation vessel was present. Now it was simply a question of waiting for their own forces to arrive. For some reason that prospect did not reassure her.
***
Lester took his headache along to the clinic. He felt slightly guilty because he knew they were still treating far more serious cases in there. But the pain was getting quite intense and the annoying buzzing, whispering sound was still with him. And there, quite unexpectedly, was Ingrid, wearing a white smock over her casual wear, assisting the nurses as they tended the beds of the injured.
She smiled when she saw him. He could manage only a foolish,'So you're helping out here.'
'Well they're very short-staffed and I did do a basic therapeutic course once. Are you all right? You do look pale.'
He felt embarrassed explaining his relatively trivial complaint, but Ingrid was very sympathetic. She found him a seat in the extended waiting area and promised she'd find a nurse as soon as one was available.
hi due course a nurse came, examined him briefly and said it was probably delayed shock. She put a small cerebral modulator on his forehead and gave him a couple of pills. After a few minutes the headache eased and even the whispering buzz seemed to fade a little, possibly masked by the bustle in the surgery. Lester found himself strangely content to sit quietly in the corner, watching the activity around him and knowing Ingrid was nearby.
'At last, there you are!'
Rhonda's voice jerked him back to reality so forcefully that the modulator fell off. As he scrabbled on the floor to recover it, he became aware that Rhonda was staring across the busy waiting room with a deep frown on her face.
'Why did she leave like that? Who is she, Lester?'
'Who, dear?'
'You know perfectly well, who. The woman I saw you with in the corridor.
She was talking to you. But I see now it wasn't a headpiece she was wearing: it was bandages. Quite unsightly. Don't tell me you didn't see her this time.'
'But I didn't,' he protested.
'Nonsense! Why are you lying to me? What is going on between you?'
'Nothing, my dear.'
But he pleaded in vain. For the first time ever he saw serious distrust and suspicion in her eyes. And, which was almost more shocking, a hint of fear.
***
The unexpected discovery that his brother was now only a few kilometres away from him did not ease Rask Chen's troubled mind. He could still not talk to him directly with the Emindian forces expected at any moment and a general alert in effect. So he sat hunched over his section of the control board with his head bowed, occasionally pinching the bridge of his nose in the hope that it would all go away.
Fayle re-entered the bridge looking sterner than usual. He'd been on the link to the Starfire , briefing Admiral Mokai for some time. Vega had left him with a lot of explaining to do and it didn't appear as though his report had been well received. Fayle was clearly looking for somebody or something on which to vent his anger and Chen was the unlucky one who caught his eye.
'Sit straight while you're on my bridge, Mr Chen!' he snapped, as he took his own seat.
'Sir!' said Chen, trying to pull himself together. But Fayle wasn't to be so easily satisfied.
'Are you sick, Mr Chen? Or are you having more of those troublesome
"feelings"?' he added with more than a trace of sarcasm.
This drew curious covert glances from the rest of the bridge crew and made Chen feel even worse.'I would rather not say, sir.'
Fayle's face darkened.'I asked you a question, Mr Chen. I expect an answer.'
'I... just can't tell you, sir,' Chen grated.
"Then you are relieved of duty, Mr Chen. Report to sickbay. If the surgeon cannot find anything wrong with you, go to your quarters and stay there until you do have a satisfactory explanation!'
Stiffly, aware he was the focus of many pairs of shocked eyes, Chen got up and left the bridge.
***
'What sort of ship are you running. Captain Lanchard?' Sargro demanded an hour later, his face pushed up close to the camera pickup so it filled the screen.'I've never known it take so long to embark twenty people, or fix a pressure coupling.'
Lanchard was listening with only half an ear. Her attention was divided between monitoring the progress of the repair work on the engines and watching the Nimosians on the high-mag monitor. Their destroyers had made several close passes over the alien ship but they had so far not attempted any actual landing. Was their reticence due to caution or technical problems? And when would the rescue party report back? What had they found on the other side of that thing?
'Sorry, Captain,' she said vaguely.'We've had a difficult time here.Just be grateful you'll be leaving soon.'
'But when will -'
Lanchard saw a new set of blips appear on the master navigation screen and interrupted.'Very shortly, I should think, Captain. Yes, any minute now, in fact. Goodbye and good luck.'
She switched channels.'Oscar, find the Fed evacs' luggage and get it aboard top speed. Call off the engineer and be ready to seal off. Let's get the Hermes out of here. We don't need it any more.'
Six battlecraft dropped out of hyperspace and spiralled cautiously in towards the alien ship, the Nimosian squadron and the Cirrandaria . As the Hermes finally undocked and sped away they took up their positions in a defensive sphere, spilling fighters and attack craft from their hatches. The screens showed a dreadnought, two assault carriers and three light cruisers. The two sides were very evenly matched, Lanchard thought.
A new face and uniform appeared on the screens.
'This is Commodore Gelbert J. Sternby from the ESS Korgon , commanding Task Force Alpha.This is an Emindian protectorate zone. All Nimosian-registered vessels must leave this area at once.'
Mokai came back on the general broadcast channel.
'This sector of space was claimed illegally. We have declared an emergency exclusion zone...'
The battle of words continued. Lanchard wondered if either side really knew what to do next. They couldn't simply snatch the alien ship away with a tow line or beam, and the presence of parties from both sides somewhere in or through it complicated matters even further. Still, while they were arguing at least they weren't fighting. Who had said:'To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war'?
She realised just how sick of the sight of the alien hulk she had become. It almost felt as though she would never be free of it. The Doctor had been right: it should be destroyed.
A call from the Emindian fleet came through on another channel. It was a harassed-looking technical officer.
'Lieutenant Prothero,' he announced himself briskly.'Captain, I need to speak to your engineer u
rgently. We've duplicated the neutraliser according to her design, but the field collapses when we try to expand it to cover any vessel over thirty metres long.'
'She's too busy trying to repair our engines. Look, can't you tow us clear?
We've still got two thousand Emindian civilians on board.'
'We can't spare a ship at the moment, even for civilians.You can see how evenly matched we are with the Nimosians.'
'Well, I can't spare my engineer. Of course, if you could send a team over to lend a hand...'
Understanding dawned on Prothero's face. 'Ah. I'll see what I can do .'And he broke the connection.
Almost immediately a call came through on her wristcom direct from Dr Gilliam.There was a strained edge to her normally controlled voice.
'Captain, will you please come to Stateroom Three C at once.'
'Why? That's Delray's cabin, isn't it?'
'Yes. A servo cleaner found... something in here and alerted a steward. He called me. Please come down now.'
"This is hardly a good time for me to leave the bridge. What is it?'
'Sorry, but I can't explain.You have to see this for yourself.'
There was something disturbing and compelling in her tone. Lanchard handed over the watch to her third officer and made for the lift.
There was a sickly-looking steward standing guard outside the compartment. He ushered her in without a word. Inside Gilliam. also pale-faced, said, 'It's on the bed; she said simply. 'It's a body... or at least I think it is. Be ready for a shock.'
Lanchard took a deep breath and stepped into the bedroom.
Lying full length on the bed, hands folded peacefully across its chest, was indeed a body. An ethereal body, as translucent as any of the creatures that had attacked the ship. But this was no monster. It was unmistakably human and female in form. She could see the translucent veils of clothing over a haze of musculature enveloping the skeleton within. It was like some trick of medical imagery, except that it was no illusion.
Nerving herself she bent over the face, trying to ignore the angular lines of the perpetually grinning skull beneath the skin, concentrating only on the external contours.Then she caught her breath and started backwards.
'Yes,' said Gilliam. 'I recognised her as well.'
It was Lyset Wynter.
Chapter 30
Tears of a Ghost
Lyset waited to die. Sho was swinging his gun round in wilder and wilder arcs, as though he couldn't decide which target to fire at, futile though the action would undoubtedly be. Any second she expected him to roll up in a ball.Any second she expected the wraiths to swarm over them. But for some reason they hesitated.
The voices came again over the radio, and now they were just strong enough to be intelligible.
'Nimosian... High Command... installation... location...'
They were toying with the words Sho had been speaking just before they appeared, as though they'd been listening to him. But how could they hear radio frequencies?
'Mission orders...' the reedy voice continued.'Secure objective for Nimos...'
Sho was standing stock still. 'Nimos?' he said. 'Who fights for Nimos?'
There was a pause, then,'We... fight for Nimos.'
She saw Sho's eyes widen and chin lift defiantly. 'I am Squadleader Sho of the Nimosian Marine Corps. Identify yourselves! Name, rank, number!'
The wraiths moved forward and Lyset shrank against the tunnel wall. But they paid her no attention. She saw legs crystallise out of the flicker of half-seen forms, then bodies and heads. They had become humanoid shapes dressed in combat suits. Nimosian combat suits, she realised. And then shades of five soldiers stood before them, wavering and flickering slightly, but bearing no relation to the nightmare creations they had been moments earlier.And the first of them saluted Sho. She saw a pale face, blank and expressionless, in which glassy lips moved, and heard over her radio a faint,'Robb, G. Private - 738594.'
And the next one.
'Sorven, L.B. Corporal - 960251.'
And the next...
Lyset felt dizzy, her mind trying to cope with the incredible concept. The ghosts were, or at least had been, people. Nimosians! How?
But Sho appeared to harbour no doubts or reservations. He was behaving as though he was inspecting the guard. Had his own madness somehow interacted with theirs? The group finished giving their details, and Sho said,
'Report on your mission.'
This seemed to puzzle them.They shifted their feet and their forms began to flicker more strongly, becoming blurred and defocused.
'Have you located the enemy headquarters?' Sho asked quickly.The simple question steadied them.
'Yes... yes.'
'Are they holding any of our men prisoner there?'
'Yes.'
'Are there others like you still free?'
'Some...'
"Then we shall find them, formulate a plan of attack and free the prisoners.
Lead on.'
For the first time the ghosts looked at Lyset. One pointed a spectral hand.'Is she friend... or enemy?'
'She's my prisoner. Part of the conspiracy. She will be properly interrogated in due course.'
'To touch a solid living thing... makes us stronger.'
"Then use her,' Sho said lightly. 'She's just an Emindian.'
Lyset tried to run, but many cold immaterial hands clutched at her, sinking through the fabric of her suit and into her flesh.The warmth and life flowed out of her. The tunnel turned dim and grey. Even the slight weight of her body seemed to slip away.
'Enough,' she heard Sho say faintly. 'You must ration yourselves. Form up!'
All but two of the soldiers released their hold.They assembled with Sho in the lead and marched off. Lyset was dragged after them, her trailing feet sinking a little into the hard rock floor with only the slightest resistance.
***
The two ghosts in the small cave with Dan Engers Junior had become a man and woman dressed in casual clothes.
And she heard Dan junior say,'Mummy... Dad?'
What? Sam thought, straining her eyes. The figures were misty and translucent, their features almost impossible to make out from any distance. The female was holding out her arms in a gesture of desperate longing to the child, who was backing away fearfully. Sam took a deep breath and stepped into view, holding the normaliser ready.
Dan Junior turned to her and cried out in surprise and relief, 'Ms Jones!'
The female ghost saw her and her human form began to dissolve away as she stretched towards Sam, talons growing on her arms, her jaw distending, eyes blazing.The male tried to hold her back.The two figures rippled and wavered as though they would both break down. She could see that the man was shouting, but his words sounded as though they were distant echoes:
'Jeni - hold on! Hold on!'
Sam hit them both with a blast from the normaliser.They writhed and momentarily seemed to harden. Then they were two ghostly people once more, clinging to each other in pain and grief. The woman was crying while the man was calling out to Sam, his words arriving as whispers:'It's all right.
She won't hurt you. She can't help it."
Sam held out her hand to Dan Junior and he caught hold of it gratefully. His eyes were red-rimmed and still wide with fear, but otherwise he seemed unharmed. Then she steeled herself to step right up to the ghosts and stare into their faces.
They were the images of Dan Engers's parents.
Stay calm, she told herself, wishing the Doctor were there. He would reel out some wonderful explanation off the top of his head which, even if nobody could understand it, would make them all feel a lot happier. But there was only herself and a frightened child and two... ghosts. She had to say something constructive.
'Do you know who I am?' she asked loudly.
The ghostly version of Dan Engers Senior peered at her, as though she was as indistinct to him as she was to her.
'I think.. I remember you. Back on the ship... before it happene
d. So hard to think straight... nothing changes. No before or after, just now.'
The absurd but inevitable question got past her lips before she could stop it. 'Are you dead?'
'We... don't know. Perhaps. If not... I wish we were.'
The despair in the feeble words cut her like a knife. The being that looked like Jeni Engers lifted her head.'I had to see Danny once more,' she said.
'Just for a while
'Our Dan is... gone,' her husband explained, his words coming with an effort as though he was forcing them into a coherent form. 'He's back there in the cave with the others who retreated to the womb. Jeni went a little crazy after that and joined the mad ones for a while, but she remembered enough when the chance came. She knew where Dan would be on the other ship. I couldn't stop her, but I knew she'd bring him back here. She just wanted to hold him again. Just once more.'
The woman gently slid out of his arms and crouched down before Dan Junior, reaching out an insubstantial hand to his cheek. But he flinched back.
Sam said, 'Dan, let her. She doesn't want to hurt you.'
'But she's so cold.'
'You can bear it for a few seconds, can't you? Be brave. I think it would be a kind thing to do.'
'But... she can't be my mum. My mum and dad are back on the ship.
They're safe, aren't they?'
"They were when I last saw them,' Sam said carefully, realising she had no idea even if the ship was still in one piece. 'Now come on. Let her touch you.'
The boy trembled but held still. The phantom fingers brushed his cheek.
Sam saw tiny stars of light form below her eyes. It seemed that ghosts could cry.
No, forget the supernatural, she told herself. There were no such things as actual ghosts. An image of the things in the outer cave returned and her resolution wavered for a moment. How could dimensional phase shifts explain them, or the doubles of the Engerses standing before her? Later, later, she told herself. She had more immediate concerns.
Vanderdeken's Children Page 21
