In the privacy of her quarters, Shermeen flung herself face down on her bed and began sobbing out her humiliation. One moment everything had been going fine for her – and the next, as usual, she had put her foot in it. She hadn’t learnt the social graces yet, and she harangued herself bitterly for allowing her feelings to get the better of her in front of Verdeschi. She slanged Maya for her womanly maturity, and Helena and Koenig for their common sense. Bill Frazer she could forgive, because he hadn’t been given a chance to speak for himself...
A cold, clammy feeling gripped her, and she lay still for a while, wondering whether the affray had actually made her ill. Abruptly, she froze. ‘No... oh no... oh, please no...’ she pleaded, as she remembered. ‘Don’t come again...’
The temperature in the small cubicle-like room had dropped. A dark, sinister shadow seemed to have entered it. She shook and trembled, desperately wishing that she had had the fore-thought to climb into the bed, so that she could protect herself beneath its covers. But the emptiness of the room above her tugged like a magnet. She knew in the end, that she would have to turn over and look. She raised her tear-streaked face from the pillow and glanced fearfully to the corner. The face was there. It had returned to haunt her. It hung in the shadow, long and thin and sallow, suspended in space – the deathly vignette of an ageless man.
CHAPTER SEVEN
In the velvet darkness of space, the luminous globe of a planet hung. It was a small planet by Earth standards, and the Moon was still a good distance off from it.
‘So that’s what’s been sitting in our trajectory,’ Koenig said. He gazed calculatingly at the Big Screen. ‘Magnify.’
The planet was enlarged sufficiently to define a haloed shroud of cloud or gas.
‘There seems to be an atmosphere. Maya, give us an exact fix.’
Maya punched buttons on her console to produce, a moment later, an accurate specification on the planet’s location. ‘Constellation – Pintarus; Star – 19 Pintarus; Magnitude –minus 27; Planet – uncharted satellite; Distance from star –89 million miles; Atmosphere compatible... no evidence of adverse conditions; temperature at constant seventy-eight degrees... readings of lush vegetation...’ Her eyebrows raised.
‘Hypothesis?’ Koenig asked routinely.
‘Suitable for human habitation... total absence of all life forms.’
Koenig nodded, well pleased with the report. ‘Sounds and looks good to me. We’ll look upon this planet as a possible new Earth, a place to settle.’ He turned to Frazer. ‘Locate a landing site, Bill; preferably near the vegetation.’
Frazer nodded and began to make some computations at his console. The thought of one day being able to return to Earth had long become a fantasy. Ever since the fateful day, five or more years ago, when the radioactive waste dumped on the lunar surface had exploded, every second took them further from their home planet. The range of their fastest Eagle Ship fell hopelessly short by many hundreds of light years. In fact, no one knew exactly how far away they were from Earth, for successive space warps which they had encountered had plummeted them into different Times. Nothing short of a miracle –another chance journey through Space and Time – could now return them. The search had long been shifted to an earth-like planet, rather than to Earth herself, and if one should appear they would gladly leave their lunar home and settle on it.
Before they could proceed with the matter further, Helena’s vaguely worried face appeared on Koenig’s monitor, contrasting markedly with the hopeful, optimistic mood in the Command Centre. ‘John, I just left Shermeen.’
‘Anything wrong?’ Koenig asked, concerned.
‘Probably not. But she was upset... said she had bad dreams... saw a face staring at her out of the darkness.’
Maya overheard and turned to Tony. ‘See what you caused, Tony. You were looking right at her when she ran out of here – half crying.’
Verdeschi threw up his arms. ‘Why me again? Everybody admitted the kid was impressionable.’
‘Did you sedate her?’ Koenig asked.
‘I didn’t. She wanted to go back to Hydroponics and I let her. I thought it would help get her mind off the dream. Please tell the others not to bring up her having the dream when they see her. As I said, she is very impressionable.’
Koenig nodded. He glanced around him for confirmation. ‘They’ve got the message.’ He clicked off thoughtfully. His mind turned back to the landing and exploration proceedings. ‘Tony, make a list of key personnel we’ll need for the landing party.’
‘With the presence of that vegetation, John, I suggest we include a botanist,’ Maya advised. She added quickly, ‘But I would exclude Shermeen – it could be too much emotionally for her now; you heard what Helena said.’
Verdeschi complained. ‘But she’s a good botanist... not going on this exploration’d break the kid’s heart!’
‘Another time,’ Koenig decided firmly. ‘We’ll take Eddie Collins in her place. And I think you’d be the best one to explain it to her... let her down easy...’
A tangle of dead plants, killed when the Hydroponics Section had been frozen, still needed to be cleared, and Shermeen set herself reluctantly to the task. Verdeschi’s hops, in the next-door compartment, could rot for all she cared.
She began pulling away the limp, rotting foliage and piled it into a heap on the floor. She hadn’t got far with her work when an odd, slightly echoing voice called her name.
‘Shermeen...’ It was a soft, gentle voice, odd because it sounded like no one that she knew. She stopped her work and looked down the pathway through the transparent compartments towards the main door.
‘Shermeen... over here...’ The voice sounded again, this time close behind her. The warm, regulated air of the compartment became suddenly chill. The artificial sunlight less intense, as though a cloud had passed over.
Terror returned to her. Her heart banged in its casement. The face was manifesting itself, for the third time. When it had first formed, after Verdeschi had returned from Kalthon, she had put it down to a bad waking dream. When it had formed the second time, after the scene in the Command Centre, she had thought seriously that she was cracking up, despite Helena’s diagnosis to the contrary. Now... she didn’t know what to think.
Trembling, she turned to look.
‘Do not resist, Shermeen... let me come through. I won’t harm you...’ the strangely comforting voice spoke once again. The long, ascetic, transparent face was hovering in the midst of a clump of tall, flowering lupins. It smiled paternally at her. On previous occasions it had not talked to her. Now its voice soothed her and took away much of her fear.
‘What do you want?’ she asked, more boldly. There was a persistent, subtle charm about its voice and looks that attracted her.
The face smiled more strongly, and its body, till now the missing part, shimmered into translucent existence. She gasped in awe and surprise, taken by the man’s physical beauty. He was in his late thirties, attired in slacks and a simple tunic, and he had about him an air of integrity and fatherly authority. She felt deeply and helplessly attracted to him.
‘I want to help you,’ the voice said to her.
‘Help me?’ Shermeen repeated weakly.
Before the figure could reply, it had shimmered away into the air again. The chill remained though, and from the direction of the corridor she heard approaching footsteps. The main door opened, and Verdeschi appeared.
‘Shermeen... you in there?’ his muffled voice called out. ‘Shermeen?’ he repeated, when he didn’t get any reply. He made his way through the compartments and eventually saw her. He opened the connecting door and stood in front of her. ‘There you are...’ he said, uncertainly. Now he had found her he seemed at a loss for words.
‘What do you want, Tony?’ Shermeen broke the silence.
Verdeschi grinned disarmingly. ‘Ahh, don’t be sore, Shermeen. I didn’t mean anything by what I said – it wasn’t the hops. I guess I just wasn’t born to be a beer-maker.
..’ He shivered. ‘Uh, it’s cold in here. Haven’t they got the ducts working yet?’
Shermeen turned nervously, and resumed her weeding operation, conscious that her ghostly visitor must still be in the room. She didn’t want Tony to know about it. ‘It makes no difference, Tony. I can’t get over it just like that...’
Verdeschi came closer to her. ‘Still mad at me?’
‘I’ve got other things to do.’
The Italian sighed. Dismally, he realized that his task wasn’t going easily. He struggled with his words. ‘Uh, listen – I, uh, there’s something I’ve got to tell you. Good news in a sense... We’ve come across a new planet... well, the Commander’s sending a small landing party there for a little exploring to see what’s cooking.’
These words had an immediate effect on her, and he cursed himself for being too slow. She turned, visibly brightening. ‘When?’ she asked expectantly.
‘Well, uh... I don’t think you’ll be able to go...’
A look of pained puzzlement crossed her pretty features, and Verdeschi’s stomach tightened in anxiety. ‘Not go?’ she cried.
‘Uh, we still haven’t got all our sensor reports in. The Commander isn’t sure what we’ll find – but if it looks good there, I’m sure we’ll go back...’
She cut him off indignantly. ‘But you know I’ve been collecting specimens from every place we’ve been to?’
Verdeschi shrugged weakly. ‘I tried to tell them...’
She fought back her tears of disappointment. ‘You tried to tell them? It was probably your idea I don’t go!’
‘Shermeen, I...’
She wasn’t listening to him. The threatened tears burst out. ‘I hate you! I don’t ever want to see you again!’
Mortified, Verdeschi reached out his arm and touched her. ‘Please, Shermeen...’ he urged, gently.
She shrank away. ‘Don’t touch me!’
‘I’m sorry...’ he shook his head helplessly. He backed away, and turned. Best let her cool off, he thought. There was nothing more he could do.
‘I bet!’ she cried accusingly through tears as he walked away.
The room went quiet, and out of the quietness came the voice again. It was persistent, and would not leave her alone. But she found now that she was even less afraid of it than before. In fact she now began to find the idea of it bizarrely comforting. It was a friend, a confidant to turn to at this time of stress, even though it was a figment of her imagination.
She turned slowly.
‘No, Shermeen. I’m not a figment of your imagination,’ it said warmly as their eyes met again.
She looked at the figure in greater detail, and this time noticed a silver medallion hanging about its neck. The medallion flashed and glinted hypnotically and sent her into a kind of mild trance.
‘Who are you?’ she asked wondrously. ‘Where do you come from?’
‘My name is Vindrus,’ the figure replied matter-of-factly. ‘And I suppose you could say I come from Sunim.’
‘Sunim?’
Vindrus laughed a rich, pleasant laugh. He seemed more human to her now... and more handsome than ever. ‘The planet you’re now approaching... where you will find the answer to your present unhappiness,’ he replied.
Reminded of her problems, which to her seemed unsolvable, she became bewildered and slightly thrilled by the prospect that he might think they were solvable. ‘That’s... not possible,’ she said.
‘I assure you it is,’ the insubstantial Vindrus replied to her. ‘You have my word.’
‘But I – I won’t even be allowed down to Sunim...’ she said, confused.
‘I heard. But trust me, Shermeen,’ he smiled reassuringly. ‘Do as I ask and you will go with the landing party.’ His phantom being rippled, and his arm extended. Its jewelled fingers indicated a tall, exotic plant with luxuriant mauve blooms that was growing next to the lupins. ‘Is that Magnus Lilarium?’ he asked her.
She nodded.
‘Break open the pod and select a healthy seed.’
Eagerly, she did as she was told. A fiery rebellion launched itself inside her, and she worked with sudden confidence, prompted by her ally’s words.
‘Put the seed on the propogatscope,’ he directed.
With the large seed in her hand, she walked through into the small instrument-room-come-laboratory. She took the covers off the instrument he had indicated, and placed the seed on the central plate.
‘Now bombard it with protons,’ he called out through the connecting door. He seemed unable to follow her, but she did not question this; happy just to have him there, to help her. She activated the machine and awaited with interest the outcome of the experiment. The machine had been developed to produce high-yielding hybrids by changing the atomic structure of seeds and plants.
‘Increase the bombardment,’ Vindrus ordered, and she did as she was bid. The machine began to hum loudly and the needle on its warning dial crept into the red danger zone.
‘Continue,’ Vindrus called, sensing her apprehension. The needle swung into the red danger zone and stayed there for a few moments. ‘Now switch off.’ Gratefully, she turned the machine off. ‘Carefully extract the seed.’ Following his instructions she picked up a pair of tongs and withdrew the seed from the plate. ‘Now plant it – straight into the granules.’
She returned to where his figure shimmered among the lupins, and got down on her hands and knees. Puzzled, she pressed the irradiated seed deep into the inert clay granules of the growing medium. This was not the normal procedure to follow when rearing seedlings.
‘Now, return to your quarters,’ Vindrus concluded. A note of impatience had crept into his voice, and she looked up protestingly.
‘But I don’t understand,’ she complained. ‘Why have...’
Vindrus ushered her out good-naturedly. ‘No time to explain, Shermeen. Go quickly.’
Footsteps sounded in the corridor outside and he urged her all the more strongly. ‘Hurry, Shermeen, hurry!’ His shimmering figure faded away, though once again the room remained chill.
She hesitated, and then she obeyed, walking quickly through the compartments. At the door she almost collided with Eddie. He was looking particularly pleased with himself, and she guessed why.
‘Hey, what’s the rush...?’ he asked her. In reply she turned and walked stiffly away. He shrugged. ‘Suit yourself.’
A sickly, heady scent hung on the air and he crinkled his nostrils as he moved past the plants, on his way to pack the equipment he would be needing on the expedition. Before he reached the instrument room, his attention was drawn to an exceptionally tall plant with large blue leaves. It was adorned in blooms which hung in lurid, yellow cascades. The scent was overpowering, and he coughed and spluttered as the irritant vapours struck the back of his throat.
‘What the...’ he gasped, dimly wondering where the plant had sprung from.
The air grew icy and the ghostly face of Vindrus formed. The force of his manifestation absorbed all the heat. Moreover, it absorbed all pleasure and all life as it smiled triumphantly and gave a hollow chuckle, watching Eddie’s body collapse, twitch and lie still.
‘All gear on board Eagle One, Tony?’ Koenig checked. He, Maya and Frazer, all garbed for flight, headed down the corridor towards the travel tube.
‘All aboard,’ Verdeschi replied moodily. He was not to be a part of the landing party.
‘I still can’t figure what hit Eddie Collins so suddenly,’ Koenig shook his head in puzzlement.
‘Helena diagnosed it as a case of the old-fashioned jitters,’ Maya commented lightly, but Koenig seemed to ponder all the more deeply on the matter. ‘And I kept telling Eddie there were no life signs down there, but you know Eddie – he’s always dreaming up dragons on unknown planets.’
Koenig frowned and turned to Verdeschi. ‘Speaking of dreams, you’ll keep an eye on Shermeen...?’
‘If she doesn’t poke it out first,’ Verdeschi retorted.
They reached the
travel tube and the doors opened. They stared unbelievingly inside them. Shermeen was sitting calmly inside, packed and ready to leave. ‘I knew you’d be needing me,’ she spoke before they could. A bright twinkle of cheerfulness and healthy vitality had returned to her eyes, and she was smiling radiantly.
Koenig’s puzzlement grew. ‘How?’ he asked her slowly.
She shrugged light-heartedly. ‘I... just felt it.’
They stood before her, uncomfortably. Except for Verdeschi, they were at a loss as to what to do with her.
An idea came to Maya, and before the situation could deteriorate into another embarrassing scene, she nodded imperceptibly at Koenig. He moved toward her and she whispered, ‘Let her come, John. Now I want to watch her.’
Koenig nodded, seeing the wisdom. ‘I think you’re right,’ he said thoughtfully, and turned to Shermeen. ‘It looks like we do need you after all,’ he said. ‘Make room.’
Except for Verdeschi, they piled inside with their equipment. Shermeen jumped up with joy and moved her carriers and sample bags. ‘Oh thanks!’ she said. ‘You really don’t know how much this means to me!’ She even smiled forgiveness at Verdeschi through the closing doors. The others looked up at the ceiling, feigning casualness.
Tony grinned cheerfully back at her.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Gnarled, mature trees cloaked in mantles of green leaves and heavy with fruits and blooms stood as they must have done for ages past in the sylvan forest. The lower boughs were obscured by lush bushes and strange, beautiful plants. There were more shades of green and more breathtaking colours than any member of the landing party could remember seeing on Earth. Yet, at one time or another, in the almost forgotten past, they must have experienced similar sensations of beauty and awe. They walked through the vegetation, their starved bodies touching the cool leaves and inhaling the heady fragrance. Yet there was a cold, sinister feel about the forest too, that only gradually made itself felt. There were no bird-calls, no animal rustlings, no insect hums... and for all its apparent brightness and vigour of growth, the forest was strangely chill. As they journeyed deeper through the trees in search of suitable land, they left the clearing and the Eagle far behind and the feeling of malice increased. The only member of the party who seemed at ease was Shermeen. Her beautiful innocent figure was wandering off ahead of them, sampling berries and flowers, and noting down details of botanical interest.
Space 1999 - The Space-Jackers Page 7
