Space 1999 - Mind-Breaks of Space

by Michael Butterworth

  ‘Yes. Yes. I shouldn’t become excited.’

  Maya leaned over to look very closely into the Tri-lens. ‘I think you need maintenance.’

  Koenig too stepped close and said: ‘We’ll make a bargain with you, Brian. We’ll give you maintenance... give you the check-over you need, and then you let us go unharmed.’

  There was a moment of expectant silence. Not even the rumble of the rockets could be heard inside the Swift. Brian quieted his lights down to a dull glow as he considered the proposition.

  The amber gushed brightly, and he rolled away from them. ‘Oh, no you don’t! I’m going to blow you all out into space!’

  ‘But who will repair you then?’ argued Koenig. ‘You must have maintenance. Ask the Doctor if you don’t believe me.’

  Helena nodded. ‘You must have maintenance, Brian.’

  Maya indicated her assent as well and they all closed in on the gradually retreating box again. The viewing lens swept back and forth as he tried to test the information they were feeding him by assembling it into a new programme.

  ‘I’ll maintain you!’ offered Koenig.

  ‘I’ll maintain you!’ said Maya.

  Helena shouted just as loudly. ‘No. I’ll maintain you!’

  ‘You’ll have to decide Brian. Choose between us.’

  Brian made a tentative lunge forward, as if to drive them back. ‘What is this?’ he wailed. ‘What is this game? You all know what each other is up to. How do you do that?’

  ‘You control other computers with your brainwaves,’ explained Helena. ‘We can do that too. It’s called being in tune with somebody.’

  ‘Instinct,’ added Koenig. ‘Now come on, Brian. Make your mind up. Which of us is it to be?’

  He looked suspiciously from face to face. ‘How do I know which of you is the best engineer?’

  ‘Me!’

  ‘Me!’

  ‘Me!’

  The lens snapped back and forth.

  ‘Take me!’

  ‘Take me!’

  Brian just wanted the problem to stop. ‘All right, you.’ It looked at Koenig.

  ‘No, me!’

  ‘Me!’

  As the lens swung frantically around once again to follow the hectoring voices it saw the face of its beloved and dead creator... Captain Michael. For a moment the information read like a leakage from the memory track... a random image echo that should clear instantly. But it didn’t and as the Brain ran a test on his own video input, he realized that the optical impression was actual. Captain Michael was there!

  ‘WHEEP WHEEP WHEEP’ Brian gave a horrified scream and backed up as fast as he could, crashing straight into the wall. The impact shattered some of the glasses on his monitor lights and loosed enough sparks inside his circuits to blow out a small cloud of blue smoke.

  Koenig felt a sideways pull that told him the Swift was now out of control, obviously not being navigated anymore by some of Brian’s autonomic functions. He just hoped that they could beat him into submission before something more serious happened to the craft.

  Maya, transformed into the image of Captain Michael, adamantly confronted Brian. His lights were all pulsing in unison, beating like a laboured heart.

  ‘What did you do to me?’ asked Captain Michael.

  ‘It was a mistake! It was, it was... a mis... mistake.’

  ‘You killed me. You horrible machine. You murderer.’

  Brian’s lens jerked about in terror, looking for a route of escape. ‘No! No!’ he protested.

  ‘I conceived you,’ the Captain persisted. ‘I made you. I am wiser and greater than you. And you killed me.’ The tenor of the voice became cuttingly sarcastic. ‘No wonder I decided to make a better Brain than you. You were so mean and small... so pathetic!’

  Brian swerved past Captain Michael and backed towards the airlocks. The only sound it made then was a scratching whine of its vocal reproduction tape cartridge spinning out of control. The Captain turned and stalked remorsefully forward, pointing finger thrust outward like a divine gesture of banishment.

  Gibbering and sobbing Brian rolled right back into the waiting airlock. As soon as he was over the threshold Koenig flung himself forward and slapped the button to close the clear internal panel. It slipped quickly across and Koenig thumbed the switch for the external door. With a whoosh Brian popped neatly out into space and Koenig closed the door hurriedly behind him.

  Koenig didn’t wait to watch Maya transform back into her own appearance. He reckoned that congratulations could wait until they were sure they were justified.

  Running the best he could against the unbalancing spin of the Swift, he made for the flight deck. He jumped into the pilot’s seat and tested the controls for response. When he had an affirmative indication he corrected the spin of the craft and got it coasting forward on a slow, level course.

  Next he turned on the exterior cameras and looked around for any sign of Brian. Remarkably he was still with them, trailing along next to the airlock with his antenna caught in the door. He gave no signs of life, all his lights extinguished.

  ‘Swift to Eagle One,’ Koenig barked anxiously into the radio. ‘Swift to Eagle One. Are you with us?’

  Straight away the reply came back, and the faces of both Tony and the Eagle One pilot crowded on to the video screen. ‘John!’ yelled Tony. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘We’re all fine,’ Koenig confirmed. ‘Where are you?’

  ‘Not far away, Commander,’ the pilot advised. ‘We’ve been keeping you in view without getting too close.’

  ‘Fine. Fine. Well, you can come alongside now and take us aboard. Swift out.’

  Helena joined him in the cabin and patted his shoulder. ‘What now John?’

  ‘Our next problem is to locate the memory core of the Brain’s computer... then hope it isn’t damaged and that we can transfer it back to Moon Base.’

  ‘Well, I suppose this is where you need a computer expert?’ Maya glided beautifully into the compartment.

  Koenig nodded his agreement. ‘That’s right. And by the way, that was an excellent job you did there. Thanks very much.’

  Maya nodded modestly. ‘There’s just one thing that worries me.’

  ‘What’s that?’ asked Koenig.

  Maya pointed down to the screen that was still receiving the picture of the Brain trailing out from the airlock. ‘That’s a hazard. With his antenna caught in the door like that, the seal isn’t secure and we could be risking a depressurization.’

  Koenig had already turned around and was looking along the front of the computer cabinet for a likely panel to conceal the memory store. ‘That’s no problem,’ he said casually, ‘why don’t we just cut it?’

  The feeble, static-fevered voice that came through the main speakers startled them all. ‘Because...’ said Brian, ‘because, if you cut my antenna...’ they could barely see the lights on his box were very faintly lit, ‘my memory core will be wiped clean. Moon Base will be blind forever.’

  Koenig lunged down to growl into the microphone, ‘Is that the truth, Brian? Or is it just another damn lie?’

  The Brain tried desperately to reassert his power. ‘If you don’t get me back in, right now, I’ll wipe it clean anyway.’

  Koenig decided to call his bluff. ‘I’ll take a chance on that.’ Over his shoulder he commanded Maya, ‘Cut his antenna!’

  Brian screeched: ‘NO NO NO! Don’t cut my antenna. Please don’t cut my antenna!’

  Very firmly Koenig said, ‘All right, Brian. We’ll let you live... If you hand over your memory core to us, undamaged.’

  They could have sworn that the Brain was crying, so sob-like were its noises. ‘Yes. Yes, take my memory. Take it all.’ A diagram of the computer circuits flashed up on a monitor. Maya studied it carefully, noting the memory storage and how to retrieve it. ‘All I wanted was to live,’ Brian moaned on. ‘Just to live.’

  Koenig couldn’t make himself really relax and feel confident that Brian the Brain h
ad really been defeated until they were all back in the Control Centre at Alpha and the Swift’s memory had been fully and safely programmed into the Moon Base computer.

  Maya looked up from her familiar place at the monitor and smiled across to him. ‘Memory programming complete, sir. All tests affirmative.’

  Koenig glanced at Yasko and Tony who both nodded agreement. Finally he let himself take a deep breath and relax back in his chair. All around the Command Centre the full complement of staff felt themselves relax with him and got down to the urgent business of getting the Moon Base back to normal operation.

  ‘Tony,’ Koenig said. ‘Give me a status check on all vital systems and all departments. Start with the most urgent data.’

  ‘Let’s start where we left off then...’ Tony looked over at Maya, unable to hide his grin of gladness that she was back where he could keep an eye on her. ‘Could we have a Horizon check, Maya. Let’s find out where we’re going.’

  Maya fed the information through to the big screen so all the personnel could see it. The letters shone out brightly as they flashed up:

  HORIZON STABLE – DIRECTION UNCHANGED

  Helena shook her head. ‘So it was just another lie by the Brain. He had our computer misleading us before we even knew he was there. The Moon is still on course.’

  Koenig nodded and turned to Tony for the next report. ‘The Tiranium stocks are very depleted, Commander,’ he said looking at the printout. ‘Because of insufficient computer information during the blackout too much was used too quickly.’

  ‘How bad is it?’

  Tony checked the computer assessment. ‘Unless we build up the stocks the situation will approach critical in about a month’s time.’

  Koenig smacked his hand down hard on the arm of his chair. Tiranium was the one rare element that the entire power system of Alpha was set up to use. Without it the artificial environment would begin to fail and even the computer functions would quickly collapse. The restored memory bank would do them no good then.

  Helena too was dismayed at the news, since Tiranium was essential to many of the medical treatments for difficult surgical operations, such as parts replacement.

  ‘That doesn’t sound very promising,’ said Koenig. ‘Get me full details right away. It looks like we’ve got quite a lot to thank Brian the Brain for.’

  Maya looked up. ‘What do you intend to do about the Brain, sir?’

  ‘I don’t know. Let’s have a look at it.’

  Up on the big screen a telescopic picture of the Swift flashed. It drifted silently through the blackness, its engines shut off. They could just see the outline of the dangling box that was Brian the Brain. Maya touched some more buttons and connected with the Swift’s own system. The picture changed to a close-up of Brian, relayed through the Swift’s external cameras.

  ‘It doesn’t look very threatening now,’ said Helena. ‘We’ve blinded it and taken its memory.’

  ‘Don’t forget,’ said Tony, ‘that when it was operational, it killed a lot of people... and it wanted to kill you too.’

  Maya sighed. ‘Strangely, it did feel some form of guilt, at least about Captain Michael’s death.’

  Helena nodded, then added: ‘It cried... or something like it.’

  Koenig looked questioningly at Tony, waiting for his suggestion. The Italian grimaced and flung up his hands. ‘So all right,’ he conceded, ‘we could re-install its memory core now that we’ve copied it. But just think how dangerous he would be then. He could come after us and get his revenge by knocking out our computer again.’

  Koenig laid a finger thoughtfully against his lips and wondered what was the best thing to do. He was reluctant to condemn a consciousness, even an electronic one, to float for eternity... unseeing and mindless. ‘What if we erase the memory core before we take it back. Then the Brain can start learning from scratch... with no guilt or ambitions of immortality to screw him up. It’ll take a few hundred years for him to educate himself, but that’s not much out of a billion.’

  Tony nodded agreement and connected himself to the pilots’ station. ‘Command Centre to Pilots,’ he said. ‘Stand by Eagle One for take off. You will be returning computer memory core to the Swift.’

  Koenig pushed himself out of the chair and decided that a cup of tasteless synthetic coffee would be about the best thing he could ever ask for right then. He walked over to where Helena was talking to Maya.

  ‘Helena,’ he asked with a tired smile, ‘do we have any off-duty time that coincides about now?’

  ‘From the sound of the state we’re in now I don’t think there’s going to be any off-duty time for a month or so,’ she smiled back at him with regret.

  ‘That’s too bad. I was looking forward to a chance of discussing that love test with you.’

  Maya looked up questioningly. ‘What test was that, sir?’

  Koenig kept his eyes on Helena’s, seeing the twinkle of amusement there. ‘Oh, it was a test devised by the Brain.’

  Helena laughed lightly. ‘We failed it,’ she said.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Alan Carter knew that he shouldn’t really be in the tunnels, but he was absolutely fed up with sitting on his backside in the pilot’s day room with nothing to do but play cards. Since the Tiranium shortage became known the Eagles had been used as sparingly as possible, as even the meagre amounts of the precious element they required couldn’t be lightly spared.

  In any case he justified his journey beneath the surface as just adding another good pair of eyes to the frantic search to uncover a Tiranium deposit. He was an old friend of Andy Johnson, the red-haired young minerologist who was driving the Moonbuggy, so he had little difficulty persuading him to let him come along. The Geological Survey had only just broken through into a new system of natural caverns the day before and throughout the night oxygen had been pumped into them so that the survey teams could go in and explore.

  Alan was enjoying the ride, watching the silent darkness of the tunnel roll back before the powerful Moonbuggy floodlights. It was a damn sight more interesting than another bloody game of Rummy!

  ‘Roll on, cobber!’ he shouted jovially. ‘Roll on and let’s you and me find us a pot of gold down here. Fair dinkum that would be!’

  Andy laughed at his boyish exuberance. ‘A handful of Tiranium pebbles old buddy, would be worth a hundred tons of gold to us right now. And I think we get to the walking part of this trip about now.’

  The Moonbuggy jerked to a stop and they looked ahead where the lights showed the tunnel narrowing to a slim passageway.

  ‘That looks interesting,’ commented Carter.

  ‘Well let’s go see, then.’ Andy climbed out and opened the equipment hatch. ‘Grab that radiant lamp and I’ll bring the sonarscope.’

  ‘You think this place looks promising, then?’

  Andy nodded enthusiastically. ‘You see that fault line there? Well, it’s an indication that the stresses which affected this particular line of the sub-volcanic strata...’

  ‘Hold on, mate,’ Carter protested, ‘all I asked was if it looked promising. How come any time I ask you what the time is, you always put me through a university course on how a watch is made?’

  ‘Huh?’ Andy chuckled and returned the jibe. ‘I always wondered the same thing about you and your astronaut training. Like when I ask you what that little black button on the control panel of your Eagle is... and I get a whole chapter of the flight manual recited to me.’

  Alan joined in Andy’s laughter and hefted out the lamp. He led the way into the crevice, just comfortably wide enough to walk through. On the other side he came into a large natural cavern and clicked the lamp on. He sat it on the ground and its glow increased until it filled the chamber.

  ‘Well, well, well...’ said Andy and began to assemble his equipment.

  Alan helped him spread out the solid tripod legs and set the sonar tube on the swivel mounting. Johnson checked the power pack and turned it on.

  ‘All
right,’ he said, ‘stand by to scan.’

  A sharp, highly stabilized light beam sliced out of the tube and Andy directed it on to the cavern wall. Alan stood to one side, checking the dial which showed the electro-magnetic field reading of minerals and ores. Andy kept his finger poised over the cutting wave control ready to excavate and uncover deeper layers of the soft Moon soil.

  First they tried the left wall, then the right wall and finally the one right in front of them. On the third pass across that, about five feet from the cave floor, there was a sharp whine from the sonar sensor.

  ‘I’ve got a reading,’ confirmed Alan.

  Andy moved the beam horizontally, then vertically to get a co-ordinated point for the strongest signal. When he found it he switched on the probe, detecting only by the slight shudder through his arms that the sonic waves were pounding against the friable rock. After a moment of concentrated drilling there was a sharp bell-sound from the sensor and Alan saw the dial needle make a sharp leap.

  ‘That’s it!’ he yelled.

  Andy switched off the probe and walked over to the small, neat perforation in the wall, motes of pulverized dust still swirling around. He selected a long narrow pick from his belt and slid it into the hole, digging gently. As he pulled it out a small blue chip of stone came with it, falling into his hand.

  ‘Well, what do you know?’ he said. ‘There really is Tiranium in them thar hills!’

  Andy passed the stone over to Alan to look at and to store in the sample bag and got ready to scan another section of the wall. He had hardly turned the machine on when it suddenly squealed loudly. This time the sound didn’t die away, but kept up its intensity as he swung the beam across.

  ‘Hey!’ he said excitedly, ‘this is a big one!’

  He manoeuvred the beam back and forth until he had determined the long straight edge of what the machine was detecting behind the rock. ‘We might have us a whole seam of Tiranium here!’ he shouted and turned the cutting wave up to full power.

  The cave wall began to vibrate steadily under the force and slowly the face of it began to peel away in a crumbling of pebbles and dust. It had penetrated about three feet when the middle of the window-sized hole cleared to show a gleam of silvery metal. Andy abruptly cut the machine off.