There was complete silence from inside.
Tensely, he peered through the widening space between the door and Chamber wall. The monstrous reptile lay motionlessly on the floor. Verdeschi gulped in sudden terror as he noted that the body was sound. It was not swollen or ruptured by the extremes of the vacuum. It had not splattered itself in a crimson spread of blood, flesh and gristle over the walls. The air contained inside its lungs and bodily passages in its attempt to stabilize the atmospheric pressure inside the Chamber ought by rights to have exploded through its flesh walls. But the indestructible creature had merely been irritated. Its body functions had been slowed down. Now its frog head stirred, and turned vengefully towards the sound of the opening door. Its blazing, hateful eyes gazed at the trembling human who stood there caught in a paroxysm of mortal dread.
It roared a fearful sternutation and sprang at the open door, knocking Verdeschi across the Techlab. The Italian slumped helplessly in a corner and screamed, as the grotesque lizard loomed over him.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The roofs and walls of the ventilator ducts looked like the sides of a massive, rectangular aluminium thoroughfare leading through the Moon Base. A warm, strong head-wind beat down them, and they vibrated with the humming of the giant fans which circulated the air.
Maya paused at a complex intersection. Her frantic rodent brain, imbued with the same strength and power of her larger, Psychon mind, quickly calculated which duct to take, and she sped off again, slipping and sliding on the smooth aluminium as fast as her mouse legs could carry her.
The duct curved steeply downwards, and she slid the last few feet to the widely-spaced grill at the bottom. Above the humming of the fans she could now hear the indignant hissing and wheezing of the reptile as well as Verdeschi’s last choking screams. Out of her tiny mind, she jumped through the grill and landed heavily on the floor of the laboratory.
The humped back of the loathsome Cloud-Being faced her. Its thick, scaly tail swished raspingly from side to side in front of her, grinding down the surface of the floor. Between its stocky legs she caught sight of Verdeschi lying behind a metal rack where he had jammed himself. He was firing his gun vainly up at the reptile, while the reptile angrily tore at the steel supports of the rack, pulling them away as though they were made of matchsticks.
Maya concentrated, desperately trying to conjour up the terrible creature that, as a child with her father, she had encountered on a long ago, remote planet. She had been asked by Mentor to simulate it, and to his surprise she had done so. Now she stried again, this time in earnest. She closed her eyes, and focused into the depths of her being. But no matter how hard she tried to remember, only a part of the memory came to her. She realized that there was no more time left, and she decided to change into just the parts of the creature she could recollect.
The shivering, twitching mouse shook violently. It converted into a blinding spindle of pure energy. The Light of Love filled the tiny laboratory, causing the mettlesome, ungovernable Cloud-Being to twist round once again. At sight of the blinding Light it hissed and shrieked, and prepared to advance on it. As the Light gradually dispersed, and the outlines of a huge ungainly creature not unlike itself shimmered into existence, it reared up on tip-toes and its lips writhed away from its teeth in a snarl of sheer animal hatred.
The Love Creature was jet black all over. It was as tall as the Cloud Being, and as ferocious looking, with two biting heads and a pair of enormous, gleaming comb-like fore-limbs. Its skin was heavily armoured with a set of spines that ran down its back and along its tail. As it faced its adversary, its cougar-black body shone madly, the Love energy inside it converting into a fierce loathing for its opponent. Its black heads roared and spat, and Love Fire belched out from its twin burning bellies.
The two improbable creatures fell on one another, and savagely they began hurling each other about the small room. Reprieved, Verdeschi pulled himself out from under the rack, and ran out into the corridor, scarcely missing being crushed to death by the black Love Beast as it was thrown thunderously against the wall. He stared distraughtly inside at the battle. Even in the first few grisly, unjudged rounds of the fight he could see that the black Psychon was getting the worst of the blows – largely because she didn’t seem to be so heavily built as the Cloud Being.
He watched in anguish as she grew weaker. She fought determinedly and bravely, knowing she was losing, scything at the Cloud Being’s head and chest with the sharp teeth on her arms. Her attacks seemed to make no impression at all on the other creature’s hide. Her skin was gashed, and streaming with blood.
‘MAYA!’ Verdeschi screamed at her in despair. ‘GET OUT OF THERE!’ He glanced distractedly up and down the corridor. His eyes fell on the large, red cabinet of a fire hose, and he ran towards it. He smashed his hand through the glass pane in the door and tore the door off its hinges. Inside was the grey reel of the hose. It was a high-pressure carbon dioxide appliance. It sent out a jet so powerful that it normally took at least two people to control it once it had been activated. Recklessly, he unhooked the chrome nozzle.
‘MAYA!’ he screamed again. ‘I CAN HELP YOU! GET INTO THE CORRIDOR!’
Above the hissing sound that the Cloud Being made, and the banging and crashing of the fighting, he could now hear a shrill, high-pitched screaming noise. He knew instinctively that it was Maya’s call of pain. He waited by the hose, tears streaming down his face as he called out to her again and again. He knew that if she was unable to entice the Cloud Being out into the corridor, they would both die.
After an agony of waiting, the walls of the Techlab abruptly bulged outward as something of immense weight was thrown at them from the inside. They ripped open, and the huge carcass of the Cloud Being came hurtling through. It landed with a resounding crash in the corridor. The black, twin-headed Love Monster staggered out through the jagged opening after it. All its energy was now gone, and it looked listlessly about it. It saw Verdeschi and began to wend its way towards him.
The Cloud Being rose indecorously to its feet. It was unharmed, and when it saw the bloodied Love Creature trying to escape it launched itself angrily at its back, and brought it crashing to its knees.
With a howl of rage Verdeschi yanked the fire hose from its casing. He began to unravel it. Immediately, the piping became rigid with the pressure of the exploding carbon dioxide gas inside it. A jet of white foam erupted from the nozzle, and he was hurled back against the hydrant. He clung savagely to the nozzle. Bringing to bear all his strength he forced himself to move forward. He strained and ached in every muscle, and the bulging veins on his face themselves threatened to burst, but he managed to aim the gushing appliance at the head of the Cloud Being and hurl the creature backward off its prey.
The dying Love Creature crawled dutifully towards him. As she crawled, her bizarre and wounded form enveloped itself in its cocoon of transforming Light. The Light faded away, leaving in its place the battered and torn outlines of Maya. Her body was covered in blood, her skin bruised and cut with the phenomenal battering she had received at the claws of the Cloud Being. She smiled thinly up at Verdeschi, and then collapsed at his feet.
Struggling with all his might to control the fire hose, Verdeschi managed to jam the spurting nozzle of the appliance in the hydrant reel, pointing it in the direction of the Cloud Being. Leaving the creature temporarily trapped by the jet of high pressure which filled the corridor, he scooped Maya up in his arms and ran off through the maze of corridors and Sections that led to the Medical Centre.
‘Open!’ he called out to the doors when he arrived. They responded to his voice signal and slid smoothly open. Alan Carter rushed forward to relieve him of Maya. They carried her to a bed and Sahn began swabbing her down.
‘What happened?’ Carter asked Verdeschi who had sat himself exhaustedly on the end of Maya’s bed. ‘We lost your picture.’
‘It’s still on the loose... we couldn’t hold it back,’ the Italian told him, st
ill fighting to get his breath back.
Carter looked unnerved. ‘Lasers don’t stop it – and lack of oxygen doesn’t affect it. What the bloody hell does?’
‘Even if we had something which might be effective, how could you apply it?’ Sahn asked, looking up from her first aid work.
Verdeschi gritted his teeth. ‘A massive dose of anaesthetic might do the trick... an injector gun...’ He looked around for Helena, but then remembered that she had fallen ill. He saw Vincent leaning over a nearby patient, and asked him over.
‘Ionethermyecin,’ the doctor told them after Verdeschi had explained what they wanted. ‘It’s the most powerful thing we have. Too powerful for a human.’
‘Well this isn’t human!’ Verdeschi replied grimly. ‘Get us the gun – and the anaesthetic.’
The white-coated doctor disappeared towards a cabinet and unlocked it. He came back a moment later, carrying the gun and the special drugged darts that it fired. It was the kind that hunters on Earth once used when they wanted to capture particularly large and aggressive animals. Vincent loaded it, and wordlessly handed it to Verdeschi. The Security Chief nodded. He laid it in front of him on his knee and stared at it, while he thought how to trick the creature into being injected.
‘Tony, the drug might not work,’ Carter told him anxiously, fearing for the Italian’s life.
‘It’s got to work. Something’s got to work.’
‘But how do we get close enough to use it?’
‘I don’t know, but we’ve got to.’ He rose wearily from the bed and dragged himself over to the wall monitor. He stabbed at different buttons, trying to locate which part of the Moon Base the creature had got to. He found it in a corridor near the Weapons Section, and held the picture.
‘He’s still heading for the Life Support Centre,’ Carter stated the obvious. ‘If he gets there, we’re sunk!’
Verdeschi turned impassively from the screen. He was still thinking, and seemed to have reached some conclusion.
‘How will Maya be?’ he asked Vincent, who had turned his attention to the Psychon.
‘She’ll be fine,’ the doctor replied. ‘Most of her cuts are superficial... she’s suffering from shock. The jab we’ve just given her should put her back on her feet again pretty shortly.’
‘You’re joking!’ Verdeschi retorted.
Vincent shook his head. ‘Her system’s not built like ours. It recovers pretty quick, as I think I’ve told you before.’
Verdeschi shrugged wonderingly. It was just as well for him that she was the way she was. He motioned to Carter. ‘I’ll need your help... think you can manage it?’
‘You bet,’ the blond Australian replied, ready for the challenge. He had been itching to help for hours, but he had been prevented by his illness. He still felt slightly groggy, but the importance of the mission fired him with an unaccustomed surge of adrenalin, more than cancelling the lassitude he felt.
Verdeschi ordered the doors to open. He and Carter stepped warily into the corridor. It was still uncertain yet whether the reptile would come past the Medical Centre or not. There was no sign of life of any kind. They closed the doors behind them and moved off.
‘He’ll get to the Life Support Centre before we will,’ Carter told him.
‘Maybe,’ Verdeschi replied. After a few minutes’ walking he turned into the Weapons Section. After checking that the reptile wasn’t inside, he activated the monitor on the wall. As before, he pressed buttons randomly, trying to re-locate the creature. He found it again stalking uncertainly down another corridor.
‘It has to work out the correct route as it goes... probably picking up signals from the Cloud,’ Verdeschi conjectured. ‘We’ll see if we can confuse it a little.’ So saying, he strode across the deserted Section and hit the red alert.
The screaming sound of the emergency klaxon reverberated throughout the Moon Base, and instantly the monstrous intruder reacted to it. It looked up and down the corridor, trying to determine where the sound came from.
‘It’s falling for it,’ Verdeschi muttered, having returned to the monitor. ‘Now let’s see how really confused we can get it.’
He holstered the anaesthetic gun in his belt and stabbed at another button. Almost every square inch of the Moon Base was covered by video film, and the corridor down which the creature moved was covered by several cameras positioned at intervals along its length. The Weapons Section was one of the key communication areas in the Moon Base where it was possible to see and speak to any part of the Base.
‘Creature!’ Verdeschi shouted out over one of the monitors next to the reptile.
The Cloud Being whirled round to face the monitor, its coloured scales flashing brilliantly in the corridor lighting. It hissed angrily up at Verdeschi’s image.
‘You... Creature..!’ Verdeschi repeated, tauntingly. The reptile lunged up at the monitor, smashing the screen with a single blow of its huge webbed claw.
Verdeschi hit another button, projecting his face onto the next monitor along the corridor – taking the creature away from the Life Support Centre and towards the Weapons Section. ‘Here I am!’ he shouted.
Wrathfully, the reptile rushed towards the second monitor and smashed that also, the signals it was receiving from the Cloud apparently still drowned by the klaxon.
Verdeschi led the invader closer and closer towards where he and Carter lay in wait for it. He turned to the Australian. ‘Set up a rocket gun... in the corridor. When the creature comes into sight and sees you it’ll try to attack. I’ll stand behind you and pump as many darts into it as I can. Then you let it have it with the rocket.’
Carter nodded grimly and set to work, while Verdeschi continued to egg on their potential victim. Both men knew that the plan probably wouldn’t work. They had no other alternative but to try.
Unaware of what was taking place in other parts of the Moon Base, Frazer worked single-mindedly on his own trap. He worked rapidly, deeply apprehensive lest the frog-like hybrid got to him before he had a chance to finish.
Relying on his pre-cadet training as an electrical engineer in the US airforce, he had erected a strong fence of heavy gauge steel wire across the corridor. He had secured it with massive hooks which he had fixed painstakingly into the wall, leaving no space through which the creature might be able to climb without, a part of its body coming into contact with cables. Next to the Life Support Centre was a massive high voltage buzz bar unit with its cover removed. He had fixed a trail of cables to the terminals inside the unit, and was in the process of connecting, but because of its thickness, and the amount of juice that would be run through it, it had to be fixed together as firmly as possible. As he leant over it with mask and oxyhydrogen welder, he prayed desperately that he would be in time.
Rocking her head from side to side in abject pain and misery, Maya rested in her bed. She had been told where Verdeschi had gone to. She yearned to be free again, and repeatedly tried to rise, only to be pushed down gently but firmly by Vincent.
‘You can do nothing more to help them now,’ the weary doctor said to her. ‘You must rest and leave it to them...’
‘But...’
‘If Tony and Alan can’t fix that runaway robot, no one can,’ he told her firmly.
Maya sagged back down on her pillow, words and thoughts swimming around in her head. Robot. Vincent had inadvertently called it a...
She sat up again, her eyes wild and staring. ‘That’s why we can’t kill it...’ she screamed. ‘That’s why we...’ She fell back down on her bed, unconscious.
Vincent shook his head, grief-stricken. It was better to let her sleep and die without knowing it.
When he turned away and began treating another of the endless patients, he was crying. They were silent tears of rage.
The perspectives of the deserted corridors outside the Weapons Section bent and shimmered in Carter’s vision as he crouched behind the rocket launcher. The corridor looked like a long, shiny gun bore in the harsh lightin
g. It echoed with the screaming sound of the klaxon and the cruel shouting of Verdeschi’s voice luring the Cloud Being closer to them.
After an agony of waiting, his prey appeared. It ran and stumbled dementedly towards them, blocking the corridor in its wild attempts to locate and demolish the video monitors. The sound of the klaxon died away as Verdeschi began bringing his macabre performance to an end. The monitor on the wall above Carter’s back crackled into life and the Security Chief’s strained face appeared on it.
‘Here, creature!’ he rasped. ‘Here, get your medicine!’
As the enraged beast looked up in response, it noticed Carter for the first time, then launched itself at him. The Eagle Pilot sweated, his finger stiffened on the launch button, but he kept his cool.
Behind him, Verdeschi stepped out from the Weapons Section. He waited until the creature was almost upon them, then he began firing the darts. He fired as many as he could in quick succession, into the reptile’s head and chest.
‘Fire!’ he yelled at Carter.
Without hesitation, Carter depressed the button on the launcher. There was a massive explosion and the corridor and the creature disappeared in a broiling cloud of fire and smoke.
The Australian picked himself up, and he and Verdeschi began running away from the scene as fast as they could, hoping to be out of sight of the monster by the time it emerged through the smoke – if it emerged.
‘In here... we’ll pick it up on the monitor...’ Verdeschi panted as they reached the Command Centre. They ran through the wreckage of the main doors and reached Maya’s abandoned console. Verdeschi activated the monitor and soon had a picture of the blasted corridor. Their hopes faded. The smoke from the rocket had cleared, but there was no sign of the Cloud Being.
Space 1999 - The Space-Jackers Page 16
