by Brian Ball
Kano shrugged.
‘What the computer can’t read, it can’t tell us. It’s a so-far unobserved form of radiation. And it’s altogether too complex in nature for the computer to unscramble. The trouble is, it’s changing so rapidly. Almost as if—’
‘—as if it were alive,’ finished Bergman.
‘And it came from there,’ said Morrow. He pointed towards the deeps of space. They all looked out of the forward con.
‘Sighting references eight-zero-beta approaching Moonbase Alpha, range between twenty and twenty-five thousand kilometres,’ called a crewman. ‘Closing fast.’
Bergman watched the grey-black shape swirling in the electronic haze of the screen. ‘Get John!’ he called. ‘Get the Commander!’
Commander Koenig to Main Mission Control!’ immediately called a crewman. ‘Commander to Control!’
‘I think we should intercept,’ said Bergman.
‘With what?’ said Morrow.
‘Anything we can launch!’ Bergman answered. ‘It’s too fast and too active—can’t we stop it?’
‘Use main armament?’ said Kano. ‘The fission bombs? They’ve never been used offensively, Victor! We’d need authorization—’ He stopped himself. He meant to say that only a World Government directive could unleash the fury of the fission bombs. ‘We could,’ he went on rapidly. There was no government to refer to now.
‘Commander Koenig should authorize their use,’ Morrow said, responding to the urgency of the two men and his own evaluation of the threatening blotch from the gulf. ‘Where is he?’
Koenig was dreaming of purple towers and gold-flecked eyes.
‘Sighting reference eight-zero-beta slowing,’ said the same crewman. ‘Rapid deceleration. Range, eighteen thousand kilometres.’
‘Commander Koenig’s in a narcotized sleep!’ reported another crewman. ‘I can’t rouse him, Controller!’
Morrow’s face showed annoyance and indecision. Then he made up his mind.
‘Arm main launchers one to six,’ he said. ‘I want twelve one-megaton warheads for close-proximity interception.’ He noticed Bergman’s relief. ‘I think you’re right Victor. Well neutralize it.’
‘Can’t Dr Russell counteract the narcotic?’ asked Kano.
‘No time,’ said Morrow. ‘Range?’ he snapped to the crewman on the intercept ranger.
‘Still constant at eighteen thousand kilometres—no, sir, it’s moving again!’
‘Main launchers one through six armed!’ called a young ballistics engineer in a voice that quavered with tension. The launchers had never been used. They were part of a deterrent force that had so far justified its name.
‘It’s changing,’ said Bergman.
Confirming his reading of the thing from the gulf, an electronic voice cut in:
‘Sighting reference eight-zero-beta now has new structure. Unidentifiable, but with some organic characteristics.’ It paused. ‘Detailed read-out follows—’
‘No details!’ said Morrow. ‘I want a multiple launch. Box the—the thing—with simultaneous detonations. On my word—ready?’
‘Ready, Controller,’ said the young ballistics engineer.
There was a deep silence in Main Mission Control. Bergman wondered if they were going to blast out of existence an alien life-force. A wonderful thing. Or something of great potential harm.
Morrow opened his mouth to give the order. It never came.
As the electronic circuitry cleared for the impulse that would send the rockets surging from Moonbase Alpha, the big screen cleared.
The grey-black blotch vanished.
‘Gone!’ breathed Kano. Bergman’s voice echoed his: ‘No readings!’
Almost in the same instant, the clamour of electronic and human reports filled Main Mission Control.
‘Sighting reference eight-zero-beta now had nil readings. Object sighted is not in the range of Moonbase Alpha scanners. Detailed read-out follows!’
‘Orders, sir?’ asked the young armaments technician.
Morrow realized that his mouth was still open. ‘Remain on alert,’ he said.
‘It’s gone,’ said Bergman.
‘Are we sure?’ Morrow asked.
‘What the scanners can’t sense, we can’t reach,’ said David Kano. ‘But it can’t just vanish!’
They looked at the screen. It showed a segment of deep black space. Where the grey-black blotch had writhed like a malignant tumour, there was nothing. Morrow breathed out slowly.
‘Launchers on instant readiness,’ he said. ‘Until my order rescinded. And get Dr Russell up here!’
Zoref had finished the routine checks. He thought he would put forward his projected scheme for random checks. It was his view that the monitors themselves should be stripped at random. That way, the unexpected might be spotted, whereas maintenance at fixed intervals could lead to over-reliance on the machines.
He looked at his watch.
Coffee time. He passed the high, thick wall of the main screen surrounding Nuclear Generator Two, the biggest on Moonbase. And the best-maintained, he thought. As always he could not resist a glance at the writhing coils deep in the heart of the reactor: scanners brought the image, but it was clear and sharp. Since school he had been awed by the temerity of mankind in taming and harnessing the might of nuclear fission; and Eva shared his feelings.
If they hadn’t been caught up in the giant nuclear catastrophe that blasted the Moon from his parent body, they would have been doing just the same kind of work. Zoref was one of the few Alphans who didn’t much regret their enforced voyage.
He smiled as he switched on the percolator. So much power behind the massive screens and it didn’t even keep the coffee warm against the generator.
He was very near the flaw in the skin of Moonbase Alpha now.
‘John,’ said Helena Russell. She turned his face and dabbed his forehead. He didn’t wake up. She opened one eye and saw the pupil at a pinpoint.
‘It couldn’t disappear,’ said Bergman.
‘At least it’s gone,’ pointed out Morrow. ‘No alien energy-source has been reported for the past hour.’
‘But energy just can’t lose itself!’ Bergman insisted. ‘It must disperse—there has to be some reading!’ He turned to David Kano. ‘Isn’t there anything at all from the computer?’
‘It’s turned sullen,’ said Kano. ‘It won’t admit the thing can vanish. And it won’t come up with a theory.’
Bergman frowned. ‘I don’t have any either. We haven’t any information for any kind of hypothesis. David, will you try something for me?’
Kano nodded. ‘Of course.’
‘See if there’s a record anywhere—even on one of the smaller sensors or scanners—anywhere in Alpha. Check the manual systems as well.’
‘The computer would have checked.’
‘But aren’t there some systems too minute, too unimportant, for the computer to consider?’
‘In theory, no.’
‘But it could happen?’
‘What’s the intention?’ asked Morrow.
‘It bothers me,’ said Bergman. ‘We’d have a sighting of the object if it reversed its course and went back into deep space. Similarly, if the energy was dispersed it should show up as a cloud. So it’s not gone back into deep space, and it isn’t out there,’ he said, pointing to the high forward con. ‘Where is it?’
‘That leaves only one place,’ said Kano, paling.
Morrow punched a button.
‘Get him awake!’ he snapped to Helena Russell.
‘I’m trying,’ she answered.
‘Try harder!’
The hidden flaw bent, buckled, gave way.
Zoref took the first sip, then sent the cup and the scalding liquid flying across the small recess. His yell rang around the great deserted Maintenance Area. Then he pitched forward, throwing a huge shadow over the floor.
He was aware of a swirling grey-blackness and a tearing, bitter cold that anaesthetized his se
nses even as he lost consciousness.
It said a good deal for his dedication to duty, and also his training, that he managed to hit the panic button. A screaming alarm filled the generating area as he pitched forward.
‘Technician Zoref—’ he gasped, as the grey-black shadow enveloped him. ‘Emergency, Number Two Nuclear Generating Area!’
CHAPTER EIGHT
Commander John Koenig heard the alarm. He moved his head slightly and groaned.
‘I didn’t want you wakened, John,’ said Helena Russell. ‘How is it?’
‘Bearable. Why the panic?’
Morrow burst into the room.
‘John? You’ll have to snap out of it—can you make Main Mission Control on your own feet? I want the crew to see you there, John!’
‘What happened?’
‘Some kind of emergency in Number Two NGA. But Bergman’s worried about the disappearance of an alien energy source. I nearly had it blasted with the main armament, but it vanished before the launch. John?’
‘He’s still slightly narcotized,’ said Helena.
‘Get him on his feet!’
‘It’s too soon!’
‘I’ll make it,’ said Koenig. He dragged on his tunic. ‘Get back to Control,’ he told Morrow.
Morrow was startled. It was the first direct order he had received since Koenig’s accident.
‘Yes, sir,’ he said hesitantly.
Koenig refused Helena Russell’s help.
‘It seems I’ve got a base to run,’ he said. The pain had begun again. He tried not to wince. ‘No pills,’ he told Helena. ‘They’re getting to be a habit.’
Back in Main Control Koenig rapidly assessed the situation.
‘The energy-source we’ll worry about later,’ he said. ‘Do as Professor Bergman recommends. Even the manual monitors—check every possible recording device. And put out a request for any—repeat any—unusual occurrence.’
‘Where are you going, John?’ asked David Kano.
‘You’re coming too,’ said Koenig. ‘I want to see this technician.’
Zoref’s call had brought his opposite number on the night shift back from his bed. Mike Dominix looked puzzled. The section chief looked frankly incredulous about his story.
‘Tell me,’ said Koenig. ‘You hit the panic-button. You must have had good reason.’
Zoref swallowed. He looked worried.
‘There’s nothing wrong,’ he said. ‘No faults, no radiation leaks. I don’t remember activating the alarm.’
‘It was this circuit,’ said the section chief. ‘I checked, sir. Zoref was alone here. Right, Dominix?’
Dominix’s face was creased with concern.
‘It’s right, isn’t it, Anton?’
‘Right,’ Zoref said, the word choking him.
‘We can’t afford chances in this area,’ said Kano. ‘I’ll check it over myself, if you like, Commander.’
‘Do that,’ said Koenig. The pain was bad. Nothing useful had been accomplished by his intervention. ‘Go off duty, Zoref,’ he said. ‘Maybe you need some rest.’
‘But, Commander, I have to look after a lot of maintenance units—’
‘You heard the Commander,’ said Kano, as Koenig walked away. ‘Get a medical check-up before you return to quarters.
Dominix watched his friend walk away. Zoref was one of the steadiest men he had ever met. He frowned. Even Anton could get Alpha-jitters, it seemed. At least it proved he was human.
He watched David Kano working methodically from monitor to monitor. The section chief noted recordings and passed on information to the computer. It was a double check on the automatic maintenance systems. Then Dominix saw Kano stop for several seconds, his small compact body stiff. When he spoke, Kano’s voice held a partially-suppressed note of worry:
‘Get Professor Bergman,’ he said. And: ‘Victor—I’ve found a massive energy discharge down here.’
‘A fault in the screens?’
‘No. Just a massive energy-loss. Apparently straight from the conversion units. It’s recorded by local sensors, but there’s been a cut-out so it didn’t show on the main circuits.’
‘Was Zoref affected?’
‘I’ll ask Dr Russell.’ Both men waited until their communicators hooked into the Diagnostic Unit. ‘Dr Russell—have you examined Technician Zoref?’ asked Kano.
‘I have.’
‘And?’
‘He’s fatigued, unusually so. There’s some difficulty in answering questions, and a feeling of lassitude. Nothing a day or two off duty wouldn’t cure.’
‘I was thinking of something else.’
‘Such as?’
‘Radiation sickness.’
Helena Russell was quite positive. ‘That was the first thing we checked. I ran a sensor over him straight way. Zoref hasn’t been exposed to direct radiation. There’s no residual radiation in his body.’
Kano frowned.
‘He’s fine, David,’ insisted Helena Russell.
‘I’m glad to hear it. Thanks, Helena.’
He cut off the connection.
‘Well, David?’ asked Bergman from the screen.
‘I’ll re-check, Victor. There must be a lead somewhere.’
Zoref’s return startled his wife. She jumped out of bed and saw him in the living-room.
‘I slept through your duty session!’ she cried. ‘Damn it, I’ve missed half my shift!’ She failed to notice his preoccupation. ‘No, it’s only half past eight—and you’re back—what happened?’ She saw that he was swaying. ‘Anton?’
‘I didn’t feel too good. Oh, they checked me over. I’ll be fine.’
She watched as he shambled to the heating control. He turned the switch to ‘Full’.
‘But what happened?’
‘Nothing, Eva. But I felt so cold! Just as if I’d been out there’—he indicated the surface above—‘without a spacesuit.’
Eva Zoref shivered.
‘You think it’s cold in here, Anton? I’d say it’s stifling. I think I’ll dress.’ She went to the bedroom.
Zoref got to his feet. The glare of the living-room light held an odd fascination for him. He put out his hands. Within seconds, the lamp dimmed. Then it went blank.
‘Sitting in the dark?’ asked Eva Zoref, who was more worried than she cared to say. ‘Why not go to bed? You’ll be warmer, Anton. I’ll have a word with Dr Russell. Maybe there’s something I can do.’
Her words brought a flare of anger. ‘No! No, don’t go anywhere—stay here, Eva!’
He lurched to his feet.
‘But the doctor said you should rest, didn’t she? Come back, Anton!’
Zoref’s face in the semi-dark was a twisted mask of pain. ‘Stay here, Eva. Here!’
Koenig wanted oblivion. They wouldn’t leave him alone.
‘Look, John,’ Bergman was saying. ‘Here’s the extreme ranging scan—just a blotch. Irregular, a shifting pattern of energies. Almost as if it’s in a state of change. Growth, if you like.’
‘He’s saying it’s alive,’ said David Kano.
‘Yes,’ agreed Koenig. They had observed aberrations in space before. Weird energy-sources. The debris of stars blown out ten million years before. So why get worked up over another?
‘John, there the other thing too,’ said Kano. ‘The technician who panicked.’
Morrow felt uncomfortable as he pointed out the facts to the Commander. It wasn’t like John to be so slow.
‘Look, Commander, you can see there’s another coincidental reading,’ he said. ‘I was going to blast the energy-source just as Technican Zoref pressed the panic button.’
‘Three things, John,’ said Bergman. ‘One, we lose contact with the energy-source. Two, Zoref sees or hears something that scares him so bad he panics. Three, we lose a chunk of energy from his station in Number Two NGA.’
‘It should be investigated,’ suggested Morrow.
‘So investigate,’ said Koenig, with an effort.
&n
bsp; He tried not to notice the disappointment of the three men.
Dominix was surprised to see Zoref back in the Maintenance Area.
‘How are you feeling, Anton? They tell you what’s wrong?’
‘I’m all right now.’ He indicated the shields which held the ferocious radiation in check. ‘Did they find anything?’
‘An unexplained energy loss. They took all the monitoring tapes, right down to the manual scans. Kano’s working on them now.’
‘I hope they come up with something.’
‘Don’t worry about it, Anton! Look, if you’re sick, you should be off-duty. Why don’t you get the hell out of here and relax?’
‘I’m not good at relaxing.’
‘You’ve got a work-fixation, Anton, that’s your trouble.’
He walked to the panel and checked the readings. Dominix watched him, then called:
‘Want some coffee, Anton?’
Zoref didn’t seem to have heard, so Dominix crossed to the recess which housed the coffee-machine. He was more worried about his friend than he admitted to himself. Zoref had the abstraction of the man in shock. When he returned, a steaming cup in each hand, Zoref was shivering violently.
‘I’m cold,’ he whispered. ‘Like death . . .’
Dominix thrust the coffee towards Zoref.
‘Drink this. Then back to bed!’
Zoref reached out. He took the cup. Dominix saw what happened but didn’t believe it.
The coffee had solidified, frozen, as Zoref took it. Zoref cried out in horror. He dropped the cup. The ball of frozen coffee rolled out, glistening, frosted on the hard floor.
‘For God’s sake, Anton!’ said Dominix. He reached out to touch his friend’s shoulder to steady him. A freezing agony shot through his body. He stared at Zoref’s contorted face, but the words that formed remained unspoken.
Zoref backed away as Dominix’s body shuddered, then stiffened. The face was ghastly white. A white rime of frost covered the whole of the big, solid body. Then Dominix fell with a crash.
Zoref looked down. He saw the medical monitor on his friend’s wrist. It was flashing on and off, sending a report to the computer.
The information reached Main Mission Control within seconds. Bergman and Morrow looked towards Commander Koenig. There was a look of unutterable sadness on his lean face.
