Davis extended his arm forward and tried it again.
»Here, that’s where it begins. There is only weak resistance, but I can get through it without effort.«
Karokan watched them suspiciously.
»What is it, an electrostatic field?«
Davis shrugged his shoulders.
»An unknown form of energy, which obviously lets us pass, without actually hindering us, closing the tunnel to the outside. It doesn’t seem to be dangerous. You can feel the energy field, but it isn’t really unpleasant.«
Slowly, they walked forward into the darkness and the unknown.
»Oh!« Caroline gasped. »Yes, I can feel it! You’re right, it’s not bad.«
»I’m feeling it too,« replied Karokan. He batted at his space suit sleeve as if at flies. »No, wait … it’s stopped!«
»It has to be an … an energy seal, an invisible airlock,« Caroline concluded. Her excitement made her voice tremble.
»How do you know that?« Davis asked calmly.
»I can measure an atmosphere inside the tunnel after we passed through the energy field. It must prevent gasses from escaping.«
Karokan was fascinated.
»That’s incredible! Such technology is entirely unknown to us. Just think of the possibilities! What’s with the atmosphere?«
Caroline read the values from her analyzer while Davis activated the external microphone of his helmet.
»I can hear our steps! The atmosphere seems to be really dense. Should we try to open our …«
»Don’t you dare!« Caroline interjected. »The atmosphere is ninety percent chlorine gas! One breath and you’re history!« She looked at her reading and added, »The air pressure is relatively high! I measure almost double the pressure than on Earth. Incredible!«
Davis paled.
»Is it really chlorine gas? Why should someone want to flood this tunnel with poisonous gas? Some sort of defense mechanism?«
»Perhaps,« Caroline muttered. »Maybe it is what the strangers need to sustain themselves.«
Davis looked around in disbelief.
»No living being could exist in such an atmosphere, Caroline.«
»No, Bill,« the astrophysicist confirmed. »No being that we’re aware of.«
Davis pondered for a short moment and then said, »Okay, let’s continue carefully. We’re here already.«
They walked slowly down the tunnel. The more they advanced, the darker it grew. All three switched on their helmet lamps, although they provided limited illumination, just small spots in the overwhelming darkness.
»Isn’t there a light switch? The dark walls are almost completely absorbing the light of our lamps,« Karokan’s voice was high and quavering. »I can’t see a thing.«
»Switch to infrared,« Davis commanded dryly.
Caroline screamed, surprised. Davis stopped and looked around.
»Then there was light,« Davis mumbled. Karokan followed the suggestion and suddenly froze.
»That’s really unbelievable!«
Suddenly, the long tunnel was brightly lit.
»They not only breathe an entirely different atmosphere, but they also seem to see in a whole different light spectrum,« Davis added in a firm voice.
Infrared light sources were mounted in variable distances at the ceiling of the tunnel. The floor and the walls of this part of the winding tunnel were made of a rough and strange texture.
The black material seemed hard at first touch, but then slowly gave way under pressure and weight. On close inspection, the walls showed smaller structures embedded in larger ones, seemingly continuing into microscopic patterns.
»This reminds me of fractal patterns.«
Davis touched and applied slight pressure to the wall with his right index finger. The area surrounding his finger faintly dented and emitted a weak infrared flash around the point of pressure.
»Did you see that?« Davis asked, astonished. »It feels like hard rubber and seems to react to my touch.«
»We shouldn’t touch anything,« Caroline said fearfully. »Who knows what we could cause?«
Karokan began to show some interest in the strange material. He scraped at the wall with a tool.
»What are you trying to do, Amdul?«
Caroline had stepped back as if she wanted to keep her distance.
»I’m attempting to take a sample. Something for our scientists to analyze later.«
»Be careful, Amdul. These walls seem to have a strange life of their own,« Davis cautioned him.
Davis had barely finished his sentence when a green arc flashed across the tool into Karokan’s arm. With a loud scream, he stepped away from the wall.
»My God! What was that?« Karokan yelled in terror.
»A warning,« Davis said dryly. »Listen to Caroline’s advice and stay away from the walls. How is your arm?«
»Feels numb, like I was electrocuted. How can electricity get through the protection of the space suit?«
»Whatever that energy flash was, it wasn’t conventional electricity. Let’s move on and see where this tunnel leads us. I estimate that we’re already a few meters beneath the surface.«
They moved slowly forward. What would they find next?
Ugly and dangerous
The further they walked descended into the tunnel, the wider it became. Then, after another hundred meters, it suddenly opened into a circular hall. An underground bubble would have been a better description of the way the ceiling, the walls, and even the floor were curved. Strange panels covered the walls from the ceiling to the floor. They would have been invisible in the normal light spectrum. Observed with infrared, the randomly flickering panels gave a confusing, even chaotic appearance.
Has to be a command central, Davis knew. But why were we allowed to enter it so easily?
Davis was so fascinated that he forgot to illuminate the whole room. An utterly alien technology.
What functions do these panels have? What was controlled from here? he pondered.
Caroline’s sudden panicked scream cut right through Davis’ bones. He turned, pulling his weapon, and switched his lamp to normal spectrum. What hadn’t been visible in infrared was abruptly revealed by his helmet searchlight. Davis stifled a scream of his own and fought back sudden panic.
Shaking, Caroline moved back to the wall and squeezed into a small niche. Karokan seemed to have turned to stone, his face displaying pure horror.
Barely visible at first, a strange being looked down on them from a semicircular niche near a tunnel intersection. Davis felt his pulse pounding in his throat. The fear almost robbed him of his ability to think clearly. Not even in his worst nightmares had he ever seen anything like this.
The creature stood on a podium and didn’t move. Its eyes gleamed coldly, seemingly evil and full of menace.
Davis didn’t dare breathe. He slowly lowered his weapon, only to just as carefully raise it again. He didn’t want to make the first alien contact with a weapon in his hand, but his survival instinct was stronger.
The creature still didn‘t move. Its protruding mouth was half open and equipped with sharp teeth. Its powerful jaws could possibly become a deadly weapon. The near three-meter, naked and muscular body, covered with rough and thick skin, was terrifying.
A fighting machine, Davis thought fearfully.
Sharp claws on the powerful hands and feet made it seem no less dangerous.
»Globuster!« he heard Caroline whisper sharply.
That’s weird, Davis thought, I had the same urge to call it that.
Soft laughter broke the silence from Davis’ receiver.
»Don’t you get it? It’s just a statue, a sculpture! It hasn’t moved a millimeter. Can’t you see that?«
Davis watched, holding his breath. Karokan pushed himself past Davis and slowly approached the creature.
»Amdul! Stay put!« Davis’ sharp order cut the comm-channel like a blade, but the executive didn’t listen. He continued right up to the podium.
>
»It looks horrible. If it’s supposed to scare us, it’s sure done its job.«
Karokan raised his searchlight and illumined the entire body of the scary creature, from the legs to the grotesque head.
»The Globuster would be right at home in a freak show. My God, it’s ugly!«
Davis’ thoughts whirled. Karokan must have finally lost his mind; and why did Caroline and Karokan call this creature a Globuster?
Davis listened inwardly. He thought he felt a sensation, like something cautiously probing his mind, insinuating itself right into his own thoughts. A name crystallized in his head: Globuster.
»Caroline, get a photo of this thing, or nobody’s going to believe us.«
Davis signaled to Caroline, but the astrophysicist didn’t reply or even move. She still cowered fearfully inside the niche. Slowly, Davis moved back and took her hand, keeping his eye on the strange statue. Was he wrong or had the Globuster moved one of its fingers?
»Retreat, slowly!« Davis hissed. »Come on, Amdul. Let’s get out of here! Fast!«
»What is it with you?« Karokan sounded disappointed. »Why do you want to go already? Isn’t this fascinating? We have to look around more!«
»Amdul, for the last time, come on! There’s life in that … uh … Globuster!«
»Nonsense, Bill! We can’t just withdraw now and leave all this behind! We have to explore this hall and, investigate everything carefully! I’m staying here! With this, my company is back in the race again. You know what? All of this actually belongs to me! We bought this planetoid!«
Karokan giggled mindlessly.
»Well, if anyone wants any of this action, they will just have to buy it from us.«
Davis lost his patience.
»Do what you have to do! We’re out of here!«
Davis grabbed Caroline by the arm and together they ran back through the tunnel. They could hear in their receivers Karokan’s disappointed calls for them to come back. When Davis briefly glanced back, Karokan was no longer visible; he apparently wasn’t coming with them.
Suddenly, the tunnel walls flared to life. Infrared light illuminated in chains followed the spiral structure of the tunnel.
It looked like the walls’ black surface had even started to breathe – as if it were an organic building.
»Bill! Look at this!«
Davis and Caroline ran as fast as gravity and the tunnel’s incline allowed.
»I know! We have to get out of here! Whatever’s happening now, we caused it!«
Davis suddenly heard raspy breathing from his receiver and then Karokan’s trembling voice. »No! How is that possible? Please, don’t …«
Caroline sobbed once.
»Oh my God. We shouldn’t have left him behind!«
Davis called over the radio.
»Run, Amdul! Get away from there!«
When they were almost at the exit, they suddenly heard shots; then a bestial roaring reverberated through the tunnel. Davis was horrified. He couldn’t remember having ever heard such noise in his entire life.
It’s our fault. We’ve awakened the Globuster.
»Karokan’s fighting for his life! We have to help him!« Caroline yelled desperately.
Karokan’s screams were garbled until they could barely be received.
The transmission was being jammed.
»How is … that … possible?« Karokan cried in panic. More shots followed.
The energy field at the entrance of the tunnel was still there as they rapidly approached, but now it was becoming visible. Davis could clearly see a soft red field, closing the entrance from the edges, like an iris shutting.
»Caroline! We need to get through before it closes the opening completely!«
Davis grabbed Caroline tightly and jumped desperately through the rapidly closing energy curtain. They both screamed as stinging pain flooded their bodies. They fell on the dusty ground on the other side of the opening and writhed helplessly until the pain faded.
Davis looked back and noticed the energy field had evidently intensified its original color now changed to dark red.
»If we’d been a second slower, Caroline? Are you all right?«
She trembled next to him on the ground.
»What about Amdul?«
»He didn’t make it. We need cover! Back to the small rock!«
He winced, knowing just how impotent that sounded.
Davis lifted Caroline and put her left arm around his shoulder. Then he dragged her behind the rock and threw himself beside her on the ground.
With shaking hands, he pulled the glass fiber cable out of his helmet and plugged it into her helmet. Then he signaled her to switch off her transmitter, but to leave the receiver turned on.
As soon as the cable connection was made, he told her, »Just for security reasons. In case, our radio frequency is being monitored.«
When she didn’t answer immediately, he shook her by the shoulders.
»Who told you the name of that creature? You called it Globuster! Tell me!«
The astrophysicist sobbed.
»It was in my head! I don’t know why, but I suddenly just knew it!«
Davis calmed her down.
»It happened to me, too, Caroline! The creature was alive! Don’t ask me why or how, but we received its thoughts. It all started when it awoke from its frozen state! It’s not a statue – it’s a living creature!«
»Bill! What have we done?«
»We still have to investigate this, you know that, right? It looks like we’ve escaped at the last second. The energy field has changed. It’s glowing blood red, and I doubt it’ll let us pass again. If we hadn’t got out when we did, we’d be trapped! The Globuster only had to come up the tunnel to get us. We would have just climbed the tunnel and had nowhere else to run but right back into its arms.«
»Bill?« Caroline asked silently.
»Yes? What is it?«
»Bill, I just wanted to tell you our last night together was magnificent. Superb.«
Davis was briefly dismayed at Caroline’s words, then he laid his arm on her shoulder. Her whole body was quivering.
»It was good for me too Caroline, I really mean that. Would you do me a favor?«
Her lips trembled with fear.
»Anything, Bill, as soon, as we’re back home.«
Back home? Davis thought. To her Triton Base is home.
»I want us to wake up together in the future, like a normal loving couple,« he said. She ran her glove over his helmet.
»I’ll … It’s a promise, Bill.«
»Please don’t let the Globuster get us. I don’t want to end like Karokan.« Her focus jerked away from him toward the mouth of the tunnel.
Davis shook his head.
»That’s not going to happen. We don’t know if Amdul is …«
The glow of the energy field at the tunnel’s entrance suddenly increased sharply! Then a bulky object emerged as if forcibly ejected from right inside the tunnel entrance. It sailed some distance, bounced once, horribly, on the rocky ground and was still. Davis ground his teeth to restrain a scream. He recognized what it was: Karokan’s torso.
»Don’t look at him, Caroline. It’s terrible!«
The astrophysicist ignored him, raised her head and stared in open-eyed horror. Karokan’s remains lay twisted weirdly in the dust in front of the tunnel entrance. His head was nearly severed from his body and his space suit torn open in several places. Other parts of the suit were burnt where the corpse had been thrown through the energy shield.
Davis’ mouth went dry. This had been a brutal murder – more the act of a wild animal than an intelligent being! The Globuster didn’t need to do this and Davis began to ask himself – was the Globuster even an intelligent being? No science fiction writer had ever imagined a brutal first contact like this. Did this alien even have a moral code?
They just lay there, not daring to move, eyes never leaving the blood red tunnel mouth.
Slowly, a bod
y penetrated the red glowing energy field – first misshapen arms, then the fearful snout, then the rest of the body. When the creature was finally completely outside the energy field, it jussst stood there and didn’t move. The Globuster’s appearance awakened deeply engraved fears in Davis. Everything he had heard about monsters as a small boy seemed to have become physical realities in this creature.
Red-faced
All communication channels and information sources united inside the Triton Base Command Central. Donald Day had sent detailed reports to the other base commanders and personally ensured all his orders were followed.
Five Hawks were deployed in Triton’s vicinity and had secured the space around the base. All civilian ships had been grounded, despite angry protests. The Ryan had received special orders and left orbit at high acceleration. Only a few people knew the ship’s mission.
»No contact with Davis yet?«
The comm-officer shook his head.
»Anything on the long-range radar?«
The air traffic surveillance reported no contact. Everybody observed the no-fly orders.
»No unauthorized traffic near Neptune.«
»The base shelters are ready?«
The space defense officer confirmed: »All crews can be evacuated into the deep bunkers within ten minutes.«
Lian Sui, responsible for the civilian staff, seemed nervous.
»Commander, do you fear an attack on the base?«
»No, Lieutenant. I only want to be prepared for the worst case scenario. That’s all. I’d personally prefer if the visitors appear here, introduce themselves and get to know us over cocktails.«
The men and women in the command central laughed at a red-faced Lian Sui.
»Don’t worry, Lieutenant. Whatever happens, we’ll be prepared – I hope!«
Only three hours of air left
The Globuster still stood motionless.
He can’t see us, Davis thought.
Although the cable connection was secure from eavesdropping, Caroline whispered, »He sees in the infrared spectrum. We must be invisible to him. Our suits insulate perfectly from any loss of body heat.«
NEBULAR Collection 1 - The Triton Base: Episodes 1 - 5 Page 7
