The Controllers’ calm tones interrupted his thoughts. “Delta Sierra One is docked in bay three sir; inspection team are standing by.”
“Thank you. Controller.” As an afterthought he added “Good job.”
“Thank you sir.”
Outside in the corridor he stepped into the waiting hoverbug.
“Destination please.”
Unable to keep the concern from his voice the Commander replied “Docking bay three.”
Once inside the vessel he ordered the team to investigate the bio-hibernation section while he inspected Commander Rachmels’ quarters. Once there he placed his hand on the identification pad of the desk and said “Code zero zero.”
“Commander of missions. Request please.”
Speaking in a low voice, he asked “What the hell happened here, MAC?”
“Six days after entering the wormhole Leading Physics Officer Duartes’ bio-hibernation unit developed minor seal leakage; this mainframe system attempted compensation procedure: twenty four hours later all inhabited units developed seal leakage; this mainframe system attempted compensation procedure: forty eight hours later all life forms had ceased. This mainframe system then proceeded to abort mission and return to home base.”
The report was delivered within a few seconds and seemingly to the Commander in a cold and monotone manner, but that was what you got from a computer - cold facts - all life forms had ceased - just another piece of data.
“Investigate cause of leakage.”
“No relevant data available to this mainframe facility.”
“Investigate breach of vessels’ hull.”
“No external damage.”
“Investigate non human life forms on this vessel from start of mission.”
“No relevant data available for non-human life forms on this vessel.”
“Investigate actions of violence on this vessel.”
“No data on actions of violence on this vessel.”
“Investigate and download all internal visual and audio communication on this mission to Base mainframe system, code zero zero.”
“Complied: No log.”
The Commander was stunned by this last message. No log? How could that be?
“Do you mean no one spoke for the duration of this mission? That there was no interaction between any members of this crew?”
“No data.”
None of this made any sense; how could seven people live together for over a month and not speak?
The doorcom suddenly broke into his deliberations. “Entry requested.”
“Permission granted.”
The leader of the inspection team stepped inside.
From the desk the Commander said “Tell me the worst.”
“All seven crew members are secured in the bio-hiber unit’s sir; all are intact and fully closed down; there are no indications at this stage of panic action or of violent action. There is however an anomaly.”
The Commander looked round at the man. “Anomaly? What anomaly?”
“Commander Rachmel and Internal Administrator Andretta are occupying each others’ units sir.”
Turning back to the desk the Commander thought These waters are getting muddier by the second.
“Is there any indication as to why they should have exchanged units?” He asked.
“No sir, but all units are exactly the same; it doesn’t really make any difference who occupies which unit, the names are purely a left over practice of the early days of deep space exploration.”
“Anything else? What about the cover seals?”
“Cover seals are non existent sir; no residue is apparent but we won’t know that for sure until we get some lab equipment in here,”
“Very well do it, and I want full autopsy reports on all seven crew members as quickly as possible: I want this completed by the end of your shift, before the Bureau starts crawling all over this vessel.”
“Yes sir.” The door closed silently behind the man as he left.
“MAC, investigate the reason for Commander Rachmel and Agent Andretta occupying the wrong bio-hiber units.
“No data available for analysis.”
This was a frustrating dead end which would have to be investigated by others at a later date, but right now it was time to take a look round.
“Access all quarters.”
“Complied.”
Searching each accommodation the Commander found nothing untoward, and everything appeared to be as it should. There were no signs of attack or panic; not that these people would have been prone to panic anyway: all seemed as though the occupants had expected to return.
In Andretta’s quarters he located nothing of her personal background; the rest of the crews’ accommodations contained hologram memories of their families and loved ones; Agent Andretta had nothing.
He muttered, under his breath, “Cold hearted bastards anyway the lot of them; wouldn’t surprise me if they weren’t even human.” He immediately regretted this thought, for although Andretta was a Bureau Agent she had none the less been a member of this crew and had died with the rest, on active duty.
The inspection team worked quickly and efficiently, utilising the hover stretchers to transport the dead crew to the medical centre where they performed their grizzly tasks.
Back in his own quarters the Commander had downloaded Delta Sierras’ full mission data; he was scanning this when the holoscreen before him began to glow softly.
Touching the hand pad on the desk, he said “Commander of missions.”
Immediately, the screen began to fade as the image of his superior back on Earth appeared. “How bad is it Commander?”
“Are we secure sir?”
“Yes.”
“As bad as it gets, sir. All seven crew members are dead; at first inspection it appears that something has attacked the seals on the bio-hiber units, although the hull is intact so something internal seems to be the cause; but I won’t know for sure until the inspection team have run a complete diagnostic. I’ve ordered a full autopsy on all seven crew and will have more to tell you by the end of this shift at latest.”
“Make sure it is so, Commander; the Bureau has already dispatched three Agents who are winging their merry way to you as we speak. I want that information before they arrive or we shall never see it again.”
“You will have it sir.” The holoscreen went blank.
Turning to the holo-link, the Commander hailed the inspection leader.
“Crew leader sir.”
“How are we getting along with the autopsies?”
“Just two to go sir.”
“Very well; I’ve been informed that there are three Bureau Agents on their way, so speed is imperative; don’t bother with your personal log, just download all information directly into my database as you are getting it, that way if the Agents arrive before you are finished they won’t be able to confiscate all your findings.”
“In that case we’ll do the last two together.” Replied the leader. “I really don’t want to be here when the weird bas… I mean when they arrive sir.”
“You and me both son, you and me both.”
One hour later the Officer leading the inspection crew was in the Commanders’ office.
“Did they take your report?” Asked the Commander.
“Yes sir, but I had made it as sketchy as I thought I could get away with; the full report is on your personal database.”
“Good man; so what is your gut feeling? What happened out there?”
“Well sir, the autopsies and scans showed no abnormalities; with the loss of pressure there was no protection; they quite literally froze to death in their sleep.”
“Who operated closedown?”
“Agent Andretta sir, the remote control was with her; closedown was administered by the book, everything was as it should have been except of course for the cover seals.”
“So what about the seals?” Did you find the cause of the break down?”
“The spare Hiber unit was still intact, as were the ULISS; this thing went directly for the people.”
“So tell me, in your considered opinion how and why would something consume the bio-hibernation seals while the units were occupied without leaving behind any trace of its presence, and leaving no sign of entry or departure?”
“I don’t know how it got on board sir but the crew were the obvious target; nothing else on the vessel had been touched.”
“Okay, so we have only two options.” suggested the Commander. “One, the culprit was already on board at the start of the mission; or two, there is something in the wormhole that has the ability to enter a space vehicle and attack the crew, and then withdraw without leaving any trace of entry or departure. What are your views?”
The Officer thought for a few moments before replying, “Option one seems unlikely sir; the MAC system would have picked up on anything live or mechanical that didn’t belong on board, or anything that the crew brought with them, and option two seems impossible. However, the laws of physics inside the wormhole may not necessarily be the same as ours, so the impossibility of option two must at the very least be debatable.”
The Commander was silent, his countenance one of resignation. When he at last spoke it was with inevitability. “My conclusion also I’m afraid, and now I must inform our masters back on Earth.”
“This is not the report I would have hoped for Commander.”
The speaker was sitting at the head of a long conference table, looking out from the holo-screen on the bulkhead of the Commanders’ quarters. “Is there any possibility of our viewing this as human error?”
The Commander suddenly felt very weary. “None whatsoever, they were killed by a means so far unknown to us.”
Becoming more frustrated, the other man glared back at the Commander and, indicating with outstretched hands, he responded “A means so far unknown to us? In a little less than one hour these eight seats will be occupied by the World Investment Committee, who quite rightly expect a return on the eleven trillion credits necessary for this venture, and all I have to offer them are seven dead bodies; not to mention being summoned to Bureau headquarters to have my guts removed and examined. Have you ever endured Bureau Headquarters?
“What the hell were these people of yours doing out there? I requested you to choose the very best for this mission and you gave me seven people who got themselves killed; is this really the best we can expect? Is this what I tell these eight gentlemen when they arrive? What do I say to them…sorry?”
Glaring more intently from the screen he added, menacingly, “Somebody’s head will roll for this Commander, and make no mistake it shall not be mine.”
The Commander stared dispassionately at the man on the screen. Christ, he thought, there were times when he really despised his own species.
After years of having to deal with these political types, he had learned the art of channelling his anger and frustration into a small chamber somewhere deep inside his mind when conversing with a money-orientated little prick like this, but of late the chamber seemed to be shrinking; although forcing himself to remain calm he was steadily losing the battle.
“With respect sir, these were seven human beings of the finest calibre, which was the main reason in choosing them for this mission in the first place. None were prone to error, nor did they ever do anything in haste or take unnecessary risk; all military personnel were seasoned professionals in their own field. As for the Bureau agent I cannot say as she was your choice; but even with the limited knowledge that I have of the Bureau she would at the very least have been equal in her professionalism to that of the military personnel.
“These people have died because we did not do our jobs correctly; we should have spent more time in analysing, and we should have deployed more probes into the wormhole, as I recommended at the time, before sending in a manned expedition. Something, we don’t yet know what, gained access to the hibernation units when the people inside were at their most vulnerable and proceeded to kill them by causing them to freeze to death and by asphyxiation; not a nice way to go don’t you think? In short, we just weren’t ready.”
Leaning forward and resting his arms on the table before him, the man back on Earth spoke in a much-practiced low and menacing tone, “With respect Commander, this is not the time or place for anyone to be pointing a finger; the people meeting here today are the sole controllers of finance on this planet; and when they see your report they are going to pull the plug; It could be decades before they finance another mission.”
“Are we secure, sir?” Asked the Commander.
“What? Of course we’re secure; you don’t think I would be so foolish as to allow recording of this conversation do you?”
“In that case, sir, if that is all you have gleaned from this experience, with respect you and your little bankers can go take a flying fuck at yourselves.”
“COMMA………”
But the Commander had broken the link and the Missions Finance Director back on Earth had to throw a tantrum at a blank holo-screen.
While packing his personal belongings, the doorcom to the Commanders’ quarters sounded, “Entry requested.”
Hell! he thought, He didn’t waste any time, I must have really pissed him off.
“Permission granted.”
The door opened, silently, and a slim man of medium height stepped in; the first noticeable thing about him was the clarity of his piercingly pale blue eyes set in a bony and almost skeletal face whose lips appeared to have been made with one slash of a razor.
The second noticeable thing was the black insignia that he wore on the lapel of his coat; the Commander groaned inwardly, Oh God, just what I need.
The newcomer halted exactly three feet away from the Commander and in a disarmingly calm voice, said “Commander, I am Internal Administrator Avery; you appear to be in the process of vacating your premises.”
“Yes, I am expecting to be relieved, I thought you may have been he.”
“Not he, Commander, she.”
“She?”
“Yes, one of your subordinates from the Communications section. She was appointed nine minutes ago; four minutes after you cut the link with the Missions Finance Director, with orders to relieve you of your command immediately; I estimate she will be here in less than fifteen minutes.”
The Commander was stunned. “How the hell do you people get information so quickly?”
Agent Avery’s lips widened slightly taking great pains to reveal a smile, but the eyes made no such pretence. “I really should get to work Commander; it would be appreciated if you would temporarily discontinue your present task as I may need your assistance.”
“My assistance in what?”
“I am to examine your personal database regarding all information relating to the late mission of Delta Sierra One. You will open with your private code please.”
“But that is my own private data that not even my superior has the right to view without my approval.”
The Agents’ unblinking stare locked onto him.
“Commander, I am not your superior, I am an Internal Administrator and I require access to your private database. I shall allow you one choice, one time: we can do this intelligently with you being in full possession of your brain cells, or we can do it the other way. Within the next ten seconds you will have chosen and if not, I shall choose for you.”
For a long eight seconds the two men locked stares until, finally, the Commander walked over to his desk and said “Code zero zero.”
Agent Avery sat at the desk and proceede
d to scan: after a while he said “You really should compliment your inspection team, Commander, they have performed a speedy and efficient service here under somewhat adverse conditions.”
The doorcom announced “Entry requested.”
Before the Commander could speak, the Agent responded “Request denied; investigation in progress.”
After a short spell the doorcom sounded again, “Entry requested.”
Without taking his eyes from the screen, the Agent said “It appears the lady is impatient, you must allow her entrance.”
The Commander responded “Permission granted.”
The door opened and the woman strode in furiously and, confronting the Commander, she demanded “How dare you deny me access to my own quarters? I have orders to relieve you immediately of your position: and what is this investigation?”
Motioning to the man seated at the desk with his back to the door, the Commander replied “Ask him.”
Turning to the stranger, she demanded “And who are you? And what is your business in my quarters?”
The Agent stood and turned to face her: too late, she recognised the black insignia.
In a quietly conversational tone, he said “I am Internal Administrator Avery, and at this time my business here takes precedence over yours, Commander: I instructed the doorcom in the first instance and now I must ask you please to wait in your previous quarters until I am finished: be assured that I shall contact you personally at the appropriate time.”
Staring in disbelief, words failed her and her body felt as though it had turned to stone.
To break the silence the Agent spoke again, softly, “Thank you, Commander.”
Turning, as in a trance, she walked back out through the door and returned to her quarters.
INTERVENTION Page 11
