by Peter Knyte
‘Frank,’ he said turning to address another man just outside the door. ‘I’d like you to ask my doctor to join us straight away, along with a specialist on blood disorders. I’d also like you to get my best avionics engineering team down here as well.’
And then, before Jenkins could even get into mid sputter, he simply turned his attention back to me and asked. ‘Can you walk Mr Hall?’
If being poisoned and appearing over New York City in the middle of a thunderstorm had seemed disorientating, then trying to keep up with the eccentric billionaire as he took control of the situation within the city was a positive blur. I had no idea how big his retinue of staff was when he turned up, but within twelve hours the place was filled with his people. Some of them who’d clearly never worked for him before were slightly star struck, the rest just moved with a practiced efficiency, which again reminded me of life aboard the Goose.
And then before the daylight had even started to fade, we were again sharing a room with the stricken form of the real Howard Hughes, captain of the giant bronze airship which still hung above the city.
His double, now lay calmly on another bed beside him, while the specialist and his personal physician, a doctor Zimmerman monitored the blood transfusion which was passing now between the two reflections of the same man.
It was a mesmerising moment to see the blood being taken from one man to pass into the second. It was both a slow process, the quiet broken only by checks being performed by the various doctors on their two patients’ blood pressure and other vital signs.
And then, two hours after the transfusion had been completed, and just as I was beginning to wonder if anything would happen, the eyes of my captain first fluttered and then opened.
CHAPTER 5 - REVIVAL
He was still clearly very weak, but as the doctors busied themselves about the two hospital beds, the man I’d known gradually returned to the land of the living.
The first questions he had were the obvious ones. What had happened? Where were we? And of course: How had the rest of the crew fared? And as the only available familiar face, it had been decided that I should be the one to explain it to him, especially the bit about the world being somehow changed and there being a double of him in the next room.
It all gave him further time to recover, but eventually he was ready to answer a few questions so we brought the others back into the room.
Even though I’d explained about his double, I couldn’t help but wonder how he was going to react when they finally met face to face.
‘Thank you.’ Was all he said to begin with, as he shook the hand of his double.
‘And my thanks also to the rest of you for helping my crew in our most desperate of situations.’ He continued, before resting a moment to remove his breather mask.
I’d seen him do exactly the same thing a hundred times, so I don’t think I’d have noticed anything out of the ordinary if the doctor attending to him hadn’t started as he did it.
Unaware of the doctor’s reaction, Hughes addressed the rest of us.
‘I know you have questions, some of which I hope I can answer, but there are clearly others,’ he said, hesitating momentarily to look at his double. ‘Which I’m afraid I will only be able to speculate about.’
‘Well, I for one would prefer to hear the things you’re sure about first of all,’ answered the other Hughes.
Expecting as much the Captain simply nodded before commencing.
‘Ashton has I believe explained our version of how we came to be here,’ Hughes began. ‘And in the process has discovered your recollection of the past four years is somewhat different to our own?’
It was the closest thing I’d seen to a genuine smile on Jenkins’ face, as he held up a hand to stop the Captain.
‘I’m a straight-forward man Captain Hughes, so why don’t we put our cards on the table. The story I’ve had from Mr Hall here is not somewhat different, it’s entirely different, and if it weren’t for that ship of yours hanging above our heads I wouldn’t be the only one thinking he’d lost his mind.’
‘Yes, of course,’ replied the Captain with a weak smile of his own. ‘Perhaps, I should start again.’
‘The reason why you have no memory of the events which Ashton has explained to you. Why I am at the same time lying here in this bed, and standing beside it, is because this is not the world we left, it is I suspect only one of many imperfect copies.’
I had as little idea about this explanation of our circumstances as anyone else, so between us I don’t think we could’ve been more shocked if the building had at that minute fallen down around our ears, but the Captain just sat there letting it sink in.
‘I don’t pretend to understand the scientific theory in anything like the detail I should like,’ he continued evenly. ‘But those more learned than myself have described it to me as something akin to the pages of a book, with each page representing not just a single world, but rather an entire universe of stars and planets. Each page lying impossibly close to its neighbour and yet still distinct and separate.’
‘Mr Hughes,’ interrupted Jenkins again. ‘If this is your idea of speaking plainly and putting your cards on the table, then we’re going to have a problem.’
‘Perhaps a little more background would help?’ Suggested the Captain, with just a trace of impatience in his voice.
‘As I’m sure Ashton has explained, the stricken craft above our heads is not the first, nor the second of its kind. It is the two hundred and thirty first, and in many ways it represents our last and best hope for the survival of millions of people. But as difficult as this is to believe Special Agent Jenkins, all those people live on another version of the earth to the one you’re now stood on.
‘For years we were oblivious to the insidious infestation of our world which was taking place. First in the high and wild places of the world where few people noticed, and none understood what was happening.
‘But eventually, the tall tales and fantastic stories started to reach the outside world. Where of course they were ignored or mocked, or served only to inspire the imagin-ations of poets and fantasists. However, when the stories persisted and grew in frequency a few, more open-minded and adventurous souls could no longer resist, so ventured forth to bring back the truth.
‘By the time the civilised world could separate the truth from exaggeration, the infection had established a signif-icant foothold upon our world, from which I suspect we may now never be free.
‘Of course, to begin with we didn’t know we’d left it too late, so our efforts went purely into combating the threat. Building ever bigger and more powerful ships and weapons or trying to identify our enemy’s weaknesses and vulner-abilities. All to try and get ahead of the spread. But no matter what we did, we always seemed to be losing ground. For every minor victory we had in one place, there was at least one defeat in another place where things had not gone our way.
‘Eventually, we realised we had to take the fight back to the enemy. Away from our world and into the sickening, in-between place we call the Miasmic Expanse.
‘If this world of yours and our own are separate pages in a book. Then the Expanse is the space between, the no-mans-land of desolate, shifting nothingness.
‘We knew the things which afflicted us came through great burning holes in the very fabric of our world, which were scratched and ripped into existence from the other side by the legion of creatures which then flooded through. So we built a ship to go back the other way, to take the fight into their world. A self-contained, self-sustaining weapon to drive into our enemies side. Everything we knew went into it, every weapon, armour and shield, every sensing device and research tool. It was a battleship, a fortress, an engineering works, research institute, hospital and strategic command.
‘But in the end, it was another enemy we knew nothing about that brought us down, an enemy within.
‘We’d been in the Expanse a little over six months before they made their move. We’d b
rought bloody murder down upon the creatures invading our world where they least expected it. Hunting them when they were alone. Charting the almost un-chartable vagueness of the Expanse, and finding our way back again. But it was time to head back to our own world, with the news and knowledge of everything we’d learned.
‘We were holding a steady position near to where we believed we’d come into the Expanse. Just as importantly, we’d approached without attracting the atte-ntion of the creatures, so had started to slowly and quietly charge the ships main capacitors, which would allow us to cut a hole in space back into our own world.
‘There was no way of cutting the hole itself without attracting a lot of attention. But if we could get started without an audience then we could probably get through and seal it up again before too many arrived. So while the ship was quiet I’d ordered all non-essential crew to get some rest, ready for the following day’s activity.
‘That was when they struck. Poisoning their crewmates while they slept, and keeping only those they needed conscious, just for insurance.
‘There must’ve been quite a few of them on board, but they clearly didn’t have supporters everywhere on the ship, though perhaps enough to make them think they could control the critical engineering systems necessary to do the job, and then coerce the other staff they needed to get the ship where they wanted it.
‘The first I knew, I was back on the bridge, groggy, gagged and bound. While Ashton I understand,’ he said, inclining his head toward me. ‘Was kept half conscious and locked in his cabin as a backup.
‘As my senses returned I saw they’d got one of the reserve pilots on their side, but were still trying to coerce Ariel, the other Senior Lensman who worked alongside Ashton, into helping them navigate the currents and drift of the Expanse, so they could come out into our world somewhere else.’
‘The young woman who fell to her death when you arrived?’ Asked Jenkins, earnestly. ‘Ariel Shilling?’
‘Yes, that’s right.’ The Captain replied, picking up the story again. ‘As it turned out she was something of a disappointment to them. She not only refused to help them, but was also making a good job of explaining why we’d all end up dead if they didn’t start reviving the rest of crew that instant.
‘She might’ve even persuaded them, if it hadn’t already been too late. When they’d taken over the ship, they clearly hadn’t realised the power of the tides within that area of the Expanse, or the speed with which they could bring the creatures down upon us without a proper lookout. I still don’t know to this moment, whether we hit it, or it hit us, but whichever way around it was, the traitors had delivered us straight into the clutches of a mature Kraken nearly as big as the ship, and with the usual school of Lamphrey, Wyvern, Basilisks and other parasites in tow. The traitors had posted gunners in each of the main weapon arms thinking it would be enough, but they simply didn’t have the ability to spot the danger until it was tearing into us.’
He was showing signs of getting tired again now, the colour which had briefly returned to his face was fading. But everyone remained silent as he rested, waiting for him to continue. I hadn’t even heard about this yet myself.
‘There just weren’t enough crew left to repel the thing. Within moments it had opened up the entirety of one side of the ship, making it easier for the Lamphrey to get inside, which they did by the dozen. A couple of the gunners did their best, and slowed the Kraken down for a minute or two before the gunnery arms were destroyed, or the parasites got to them from the inside.
‘On the bridge, they just kept shouting orders to crew who were either already dead, or unable to respond. While the Kraken just continued weighing into us. Eventually, when the Lamphrey made it to the door of the bridge, I think it sank in, and the traitors realised they’d killed us all.
‘They’d bound and gagged me, but when they had to start fighting for their lives they forgot about me, and I was able to get free and make it into the command chair.
‘There was only one desperate option left, and that was to discharge the capacitors at zero range, and let the energy explode across the exo-frame of the ship to create a rip out of the Expanse back into our own space. There was no time to manage the power levels, so I just opened everything up, and completely drained the reserves, along with everything the generators could put out as well. It would leave the ship paralysed if it didn’t work, but we didn’t have time for anything else.
‘Using the Arc capacitors like this had always been an option of last resort, so we’d designed the frame to take it, but the ship was supposed to be completely fastened down before it was employed, with all hatches and combing sealed, and the crew secured inside the inner hull in sealed cabins or staterooms so none of the highly energised Arc energies could get inside the ship.
‘On the plus side, anything close enough to the ship to be caught up in the initial pulse would’ve had its molecules completely rearranged, so if nothing else the Kraken and its Lamphrey would be killed
‘On the negative side, the ship was badly damaged, and both the bridge and inner hull were exposed to the Expanse, so the Arc forces could go anywhere, and would most likely kill every living thing not within a sealed room, including all of us on the bridge, and it still might not create a rip around the ship.’
‘You’re not afraid to roll the dice Mr Hughes,’ comm-ented Jenkins dryly.
‘Those aren’t the only risks Agent Jenkins,’ replied the Captain in a subdued tone. ‘I knew, that even if we did manage to create a rip, we had no idea where it would lead. We’d drifted from our planned location, so we could come out in the middle of a mountain, the vacuum of space or at the bottom of the sea for all I knew, to instantly die as soon as the energy surrounding the ship dissipated.’
‘That might explain the cables.’ Jenkins again interjected, with a genuine smile. ‘After the initial excitement around the appearance of your ship began to die down a little, we were contacted by a number of building owners, who’d discovered some of your cabling, and one of your winch baskets embedded in the concrete walls and floors of one their high rise buildings.’
‘Yes I’m afraid so,’ replied the Captain seriously. ‘They must have come through straight into the middle of the buildings. I hope nobody was hurt?’
‘No, all the apartments affected appear to have been unoccupied,’ reassured the senior agent. ‘Though you may face a substantial decorator’s bill.’
‘All of which brings us back to the start,’ continued the Captain earnestly. ‘To put things simply, while we didn’t come through from the Expanse exactly where we’d intended, the distance we drifted can’t have been huge. So your world must somehow be occupying a very similar area of space to ours, and if there are two versions of our world in such close proximity, or if you prefer, two pages in the book, there could be dozens or hundreds more.
CHAPTER 6 - VIOLATION
The destruction was so complete and so excessive it was almost impossible to believe so much damage could’ve been done in such a short amount of time. But the hospital morgue which I had visited with the two agents just over a day ago, now lay ruined.
The bodies of the crew which I’d so desperately tried to identify, now lay scattered around the wreck of a room. Many of the doors to the cabinets had been physically ripped from their hinges and the bodies dragged out with their shelves and belongings, only to be cast across the room after being first mangled.
The light fittings had been torn from the ceiling, desks, chairs and other equipment smashed and scattered in a way which suggested an entire team of men with heavy tools must’ve been employed for some time to achieve the result. Even the walls and floor seemed to have been attacked.
As we looked in through the broken and unhinged doorway I felt almost sick with shock, this room which had previously seemed so tragic because of its inability to accommodate so many dead without having to resort to placing them on hospital gurney’s and even the floor, now seemed nothing short of defiled. A
grotesque cross between an abattoir and scrap yard, with blood and severed body parts lying strewn across the entire room intermixed with twisted metal, plaster, electric cabling and other unident-ifiable pieces of equipment.
I remembered the faces of all the crew I’d tried to put names to, the broken body of Ariel the other Lensman who’d I’d worked so closely with, and who’d fallen to her death from the ship on our first arrival, a couple of research scientists, including another man by the name of Hall who’d died from the effects of the poison, and whose name I was sure I’d only known because it was the same as my own. One of the galley staff, who I’d seen practically every day, but who I only knew on a first name basis, several engineers, marines, radio and sensor analysis staff, an Austrian medical bay nurse who even in the depths of the Expanse had often been heard singing songs as she went about her day, deck hands, repair crew, gunners, one of the cartographers by the name of Williamson, who had somehow managed to brew a very tasty batch of highly illicit real-ale while we sailed. They were all there, and they all deserved to be at least named before this happened to them.
Nothing human could’ve done what I saw in that room, nor any wild animal which roamed the wide earth. And yet it was familiar to me, for this was the work of those creatures from the Expanse. Following the massacre of Darjeeling, it was this kind of carnage which we’d found as the first airship to arrive. Scenes which had subsequently lived in my memory undimmed by the passage of time.
There was only one possible explanation; Something must’ve come through from the Expanse with us, and somehow found its way to the hospital morgue.
