Pensively, Maya pulled out a portable environmental sensor and began studying it.
‘Any variations in the pre-landing readings?’ Koenig asked her.
‘No hostile elements in the environment. Temperature’s dropping, about fifty degrees...’ She frowned. ‘No life forms.’
‘That’s odd... about the temperature,’ Koenig told her. ‘Keep checking at hourly intervals.’ The air grew chillier as though charged with a malevolent, negative energy. He was about to order a return to the Eagle when the bushes and trees suddenly thinned out. A building loomed up in front of them. He held up his hand. They stopped, almost at the edge of the clearing, shielded from view by a clump of tall plants.
‘Everyone stay close,’ he warned. He drew back the leaves cautiously and peered out.
The building was not so much an architectural structure, as a shape. It was a cube – no more than twenty feet in height. Its walls were perfectly smooth and windowless, and glistened as though they had been freshly painted. A single wall, like a monstrous, black triangular fin, rose out of the turf in the foreground and cut half-way through the cube. The apex of the triangle rose some ten feet higher above the centre of the cube, and glinted in the sunlight.
Koenig pushed his way through the foliage and stepped into view. The building was surrounded by a smoothly-cropped, green lawn. A perfectly straight pathway cut across it and disappeared at the base of the building. He squinted and noticed that, in fact, there was some kind of a dip beyond the lip of the turf. He moved closer and saw that, beyond the lip, the path led down to an arched entrance. He waved the others out, and they began to approach warily, their laser guns drawn. They had not gone far when a sudden rumbling sounded. The turf and building vibrated, as though struck by a small earthquake. A deep roar sounded from the doorway and some enormous shape began to make its way up the steps beyond the lip.
They held their ground gallantly, until a strange creature had fully shown itself.
It stood some seven feet tall – and ugly. It was shaped a bit like a giant brontosaurus from Earth’s pre-history – but there the resemblance ended. Its neck was much shorter, and similar to a fire lizard’s. Oily, gill-like scales covered its huge body. Vicious, crab-like claws sprouted from its shoulders beneath its head, and they snapped emptily at the air in front of it. It located them with its single, veined eye and gave out another mighty roar. It braced itself, then lumbered surprisingly rapidly towards them on four, fat webbed feet.
Once more the land seemed to shake. Maya noticed in puzzlement the vibrations didn’t actually register through her feet – they registered through her vision. But she didn’t have time to debate the issue. The creature’s snapping claws and horned, lowered head were almost on them.
They backed off with a mixture of fear and outright amazement. Their sensors had denied all existence of zoological life on the planet.
Koenig spun aside, and tripped. He fell heavily against a boulder, helpless in the creature’s path. Desperately he raised his laser to its oncoming face and fired at it. Instead of dropping the dragon monster in its path, as it ought to have done, the gun only gave a feeble, useless ‘click’. Frantically, he depressed the fire button again and again, struggling to his feet. Still the gun refused to work. Seeing his Commander’s plight, Frazer stepped forward and fired his own laser at the creature – but this too was dead. Whatever was sucking away the heat seemed also to be sucking away the energy that their guns relied on to function.
Snarling and bellowing, the heavy monster thundered to within inches of them, its claws scissoring in anticipation, its long, thin horn glinting menacingly. Thinking quickly, Frazer grasped Koenig’s hand and jerked him away and they both fled with Maya into the trees.
They raced breathlessly for several minutes before they realized with relief that the creature wasn’t following them. They heard its bellow of rage. Through the matted branches they watched its huge, trundling mass at the edge of the turf, trying vainly to follow them.
‘It can’t move out of that area for some reason,’ Maya gasped, getting her breath back. They sat down, grim and bewildered. Koenig whipped out his commlock and activated it, already suspecting the worst.
‘Moon Base Alpha. Come in, Moon Base Alpha.’ He waited patiently for a response, but there was nothing – nothing save the intense silence of the forest. ‘This is Koenig,’ he repeated urgently. ‘Moon Base Alpha. Urgent. Come in Moon Base Alpha.’
When he still got no response, he turned grimly to face Frazer and Maya. ‘All right, here’s what we’ve got: a communications blackout with Alpha, our weapons neutralized, a creature our sensors told us was non-existent... and it was hostile.’ He looked to Maya. ‘What do you think?’
Maya pursed her lips and shook her head. ‘I don’t like it... there could be a shielding force from that structure. That would have blocked out our scanners. It could be the same force that cut off communications with Alpha, and neutralized our weapons...’ She broke off, unconvinced. From where they sat they had a good view of the black building through the foliage. They stared intently at it.
‘Some life form – some being with intelligence, had to build that,’ Koenig commented, hoping to spark off ideas.
‘That creature must be guarding it for a reason,’ Frazer observed.
Koenig nodded. ‘It’s the inside I want to know about.’ He came to a decision. ‘Maybe, Bill, you can raise Alpha for us from the Eagle... and when you come back, bring a rocket launcher with you.’
‘Aye aye, Cap’n...’ Frazer rose unwillingly to his feet and began to move off. Soon his figure was lost in the motionless undergrowth. His abrupt departure made them aware of the fact that Shermeen was missing.
‘Where’d she go?’ Koenig asked in alarm. He and Maya rose to their feet and began calling her name, searching for her in the endless growths.
Shermeen hummed quietly to herself, reaching for a cluster of bright blue fruits that were hanging from a bush. The sample bag she wore around her shoulder was crammed to capacity with berries, nuts, leaves and flowers. The tape recorder into which she spoke her observations had nearly run out of tape, and she was debating whether to return or not when Vindrus materialized in front of her. She gasped, not really expecting him to reappear now that her problems had been so easily solved. She glanced hesitantly in the direction of Koenig and the others, to show the ghost that she really ought to be getting along. But she was struck again by his extreme handsomeness, and by the avuncular, reassuring smile that he gave her. His projection hung motionlessly by her side. His arm was raised in the direction of the cube-like building she had noticed earlier, and he seemed to be directing her to go there. Obediently, she found herself complying.
His unearthly figure glided evenly through the trees in front of her. His back was to the building, his radiant eyes flashing at her and the silver medallion twirling and twinkling around his neck. By the time she reached the clearing, she was completely under his spell. She moved across the turf as in a dream, unafraid of the lumbering monster that stepped considerately to one side in order to let her somnambulent figure pass by.
Mesmerized, she descended the steps and walked through the open doorway into the dim interior beyond. The dark air was so chill and crisp that even she noticed it and it brought her round.
Vindrus’s form hovered spectrally in the gloom.
Her eyes adjusted, and she made out smooth, grey walls, and in the centre of the room two identical translucent cabinets. Each cabinet was large enough to hold a man, and behind them was a bank of controls and dials, half-shrouded in the dimness. Six square pillars formed a hexagon around the cabinets, supporting the roof. They were decorated with vividly drawn illustrations, depicting, she was surprised to note, the evolutionary process of Mankind.
As she gazed, spell-bound at the scene, beams of white light burst suddenly out of the darkness. They revealed strange, cabbalistic markings and the sinister, scorched outlines of human forms on the walls a
nd floors. She shuddered in awful recognition. Dark terrors began to assail her, not least of all the sudden memory of the giant dragon creature she had seen on the lawn. Its image returned to her with fearsome clarity.
‘Why didn’t that...?’ she began, at a loss to find the right word to describe it.
‘Thaed,’ Vindrus informed her. ‘It didn’t attack you because I promised you wouldn’t be harmed.’
‘I wasn’t even frightened,’ she said, looking startled.
‘You’ll not fear on Sunim, Shermeen. My concern is for your well-being. But first I must come from my world to yours.’
‘I – I don’t understand,’ she stammered, now totally mystified by the rush of events. ‘You’re already here.’
Vindrus laughed hollowly. ‘Only in spirit, my dear girl. Not substance.’ As a demonstration, he attempted to touch one of the cabinets, but his vaporous hand passed through it. ‘This machine will enable my corporal body to come over into your world. If you’ll assist me.’
‘Me? How?’ she asked, intrigued by the mysteries. She felt obliged to help him.
‘Look around you,’ he said to her. ‘The scorch marks... these marks on the cabinet...’ His hands indicated fierce burn-scars which melted and charred the substance that they were made from. ‘An unfortunate accident. Sometime in the past, the generator exploded. So before I can help you, you must help me...’ he finished cryptically. ‘You must help me to enter your world so that I may continue my life – before it is too late!’
The Thaed rumbled and roared its warnings through the trees, as Koenig and Maya ceased their search for the missing botanist. They had covered all the forest surrounding the immediate vicinity of the unwholesome building – without actually exposing themselves to the guardian monster.
‘Disappeared!’ Koenig exclaimed, angry with himself. ‘And I made the decision to let her come.’
‘On my advice, John,’ Maya told him. She looked upset, and gazed in despair around her through the foliage. ‘The poor girl. Whatever could have happened to her?’
A rustle of undergrowth sounded and they both turned expectantly, but it was only Frazer returning with the rocket launcher. He came over to them, and Koenig informed him of the bad news. Frazer shook his head unhappily.
‘It’s bad news all round,’ he said. ‘I can’t raise Alpha from the Eagle, John.’
They looked despondently at one another. ‘Maybe Shermeen went back to the ship?’ Maya suggested hopefully.
‘If she did, I didn’t see her,’ the pilot said. ‘I...’
‘Then that only leaves...’ Maya began urgently, cutting him off. She turned to Koenig and he nodded dejectedly. They turned towards the black building.
‘I know, Maya,’ Koenig said. ‘Whichever way you look at it, we’ve got to get inside that place.’
Maya grew suddenly thoughtful and a determined look appeared in her eyes. She stood rigidly in front of them, deep in concentration. Her outline faded in a blaze of burning, pulsing energy as she allowed herself to convert to a rotating spindle. Her molecules hummed and sang in protest at their enforced dissociation. Koenig and Frazer stepped obligingly back, giving her space to do her own thing and complete the complicated transformation process.
The bright spindle collapsed and out of the fading glare stepped an alert, bush-tailed fox. His pointed ears pricked and his small head spun round in the direction of the Thaed. With a bound, he sprang off towards it.
Leaves and branches slid swiftly past her as she manoeuvred her new, sleek body through the undergrowth. To her, it felt that she had always been a fleet, soundless and crafty fox. She came to the turf and sprang headlong across it before the lumbering Thaed could respond. It bellowed in rage at her and launched itself after her, but it was too late to prevent her reaching the steps and the safety of the gaping doors.
Expertly, she changed back to her usual Psychon form and advanced cautiously inside the black building. She drew in her breath as the evil cold enveloped her. After a moment, she was able to make out the various outlines and shapes amongst the shadows. The drab, cell-like room appeared to be deserted. She wandered around among the objects and pillars, studying them. At length, she flicked on her commlock experimentally.
‘John?’
‘Yes, Maya,’ Koenig announced himself. His familiar face flickered on the screen and she warmed at the sight.
‘Then our commlocks are working again,’ she said. ‘I just wanted to check.’
‘For just so long as some force wants them to, I’m afraid,’ Koenig’s joyless voice came back. ‘But keep talking. Tell me what you see.’
As she talked she continued with her examination of the room. ‘The interior’s a bizarre mixture of the archaic and the advanced... it’s some sort of temple – except...’
‘Except what?’
‘No altar. A machine...’
‘Operative?’
‘Going closer to investigate.’ She moved through the unfriendly shadows towards the silent cabinets and the banks of equipment. Only her footsteps relieved the tomb-like silence. ‘John, one thing, that feeling... it’s stronger in here...’
A tense silence over the commlock indicated that Koenig and Frazer were worried. She reached the first cabinet and as she reached her hand out to touch it, a figure moved silently out of the darkness towards her. She shrank back, but sighed with relief when she saw that it was Shermeen. ‘Shermeen? Are you all right?’ she asked.
The figure of the botanist looked pale and drawn. When she spoke, she sounded defensive. ‘Of course. Why shouldn’t I be?’
The Psychon glanced around her nervously. ‘How did you get here?’ she asked.
‘I walked in,’ the other replied complacently.
Maya regained her composure. Non-plussed, she informed Koenig of her find.
‘In the temple?’ Koenig’s listening voice sounded puzzled.
‘Yes... she said she walked in. She must have slipped in while that creature was concentrating on you.’
‘The problem now, is how to get her out!’
‘John, I’d like to put the interior on video... I think it’s important,’ she said, by way of response to him.
‘Go ahead.’
She scanned her commlock from pillar to pillar, relaying the graphic illustrations of pre-history to the waiting Koenig and Frazer. Then she cast it round the other objects in the temple, hoping that they would be able to observe them in the dim lighting. Silently, standing like a pale ghost at her side, Shermeen watched her.
Maya finished and brought her commlock back up to her face. On the screen, Koenig looked as though he had undergone a profound conversion. ‘We’ll have to use the same tactics to get her out that got her in,’ he said with determination.
‘A decoy?’
‘We’ve got to take the gamble!’ The screen went silent for a moment and she waited patiently while Koenig conversed with Frazer. His face returned. ‘We’re going to create a diversion. When the creature’s distracted, you and Shermeen run for the Eagle!’
‘I understand.’ Maya clicked the set off and reholstered it on her belt. She cast a glance about her in the darkness, looking for Shermeen, but the botanist was nowhere to be seen.
A stab of panic gripped her and she looked wildly around. Her eyes alighted on the open doorway and the flight of steps leading upward on to the turf. She was in time to see the slow-moving figure of the girl nearing the top of them. She yelled out in alarm. ‘Shermeen! Come back!’
She sprinted after her and leapt up the steps. The botanist was moving, apparently without fear, across the clipped lawn. Now Maya was sure that something was wrong with her.
The Thaed roared and snarled. It shook its great, horned head and lumbered towards her. The figures of Koenig and Frazer worked frantically on the edge of the lawn, out of the monster’s area of patrol. They had assembled the rocket launcher and were bringing it round to fire. Maya watched frozenly as Koenig aimed the launcher at the Thaed and f
ired.
Nothing happened.
As with the lasers, the launcher had somehow been deactivated. Helpless spectators, they watched the confrontation between the Thaed and the botanist take place.
Astonishingly, the creature seemed to relent at the sight of the girl. Its menacing mass, that must have weighed thirty tons or more, sniffed twice at her and then backed off, allowing her to pass. Shermeen turned and smiled at Maya. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ she said. ‘It won’t attack us.’
On tenterhooks, Maya moved forward towards the fitful beast. It growled angrily and stamped its flat feet on the ground. She ran quickly past it with her heart in her mouth towards where the botanist waited. She grasped Shermeen’s hand and pulled her along, off the turf. She reached Koenig and Frazer and almost collapsed with relief.
‘You saw?’ she asked Koenig after she had recovered somewhat.
‘I saw all right,’ Koenig replied in amazement, looking the motionless Shermeen up and down. ‘Shermeen seems to have some sort of immunity...’
But the botanist wasn’t watching him. Instead, she was watching the temple – and Koenig noticed a haunted, faraway look of love in her eyes.
CHAPTER NINE
The dreamy, lovesick expression Shermeen had worn returned to Koenig as he and Maya stood discussing her back in the Command Centre. Both their armoury and instruments had been rendered useless at varying times by the unknown force on the planet. Whatever it was, it had allowed them to lift off and return to base... and let Shermeen go with them. But why? Why should their power have been taken away from them, and then returned for no apparent reason? Why that look of longing in the botanist’s pretty blue eyes as she gazed at the mysterious building? And why her power over the ferocious Thaed – the temple’s guardian?
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