by Gary Weston
‘Thanks, Karma,’ said Raven. ‘I won’t forget this. Commander Gordon is ready to unload your ship and get our gear on board. He’ll fuel it up at the same time. Take off in about five hours. That ok with you three?’
‘I guess it will have to be,’ said Casey. ‘Shannon. You and I are going home for a couple of hours, then we’re going into space again. Sam. You make sure we are fully restocked with food and water.’
‘Ok.’
‘And keep an eye on the unloading. Some of that stuff is fragile.’
‘I know what I’m doing, Karma. See you back here in a few hours.’
With a frown at Raven, Casey took Shannon away. Raven entered the massive hanger to get out of the way as the mighty freighter was being unloaded. He found Captain Shorty Armstrong, in full uniform, with twenty other D S I Military officers.
‘Boss.’
‘Shorty. Captain Casey and Captain Thorne are going. Is all that special equipment ready?’
‘Just about. We’re waiting for more liquid marsillium. Professor Itterway has demonstrated how to apply it to the canvas. We have all we need to weld up the skeleton of the tunnel.’
‘And the engineers?’
‘Commander Gordon has selected six of his best, including Zena Morrison. She’ll try to repair the turret if she can. Bring the ship home.’
Raven approved of that. ‘Good. But not as a priority. Ships are replaceable. You can go with Casey and Thorne, if you like.’
‘I might just do that. Boss. We haven’t heard from Luppino in the last couple of hours.’
Raven said, ‘Don’t read too much into that. No news is good news. Here’s the professor.’
‘Ah. Boss,’ said Itterway. ‘This is the last of the marsillium. Captain Armstrong. Are you sure you know how to apply it?’
‘Just spray it or brush it on in thin layers. Don’t breathe it in and let it dry off completely before folding it.’
‘Good. Oh. And don’t leave the containers open to the air. Otherwise you’ll have an anchor for your ship within two hours.’ The nautical pun only received hard stares from Boss and Shorty. ‘Hrmm. Right. Well. Good luck. And if you have any problems, don’t hesitate to solve them.’
Raven shook his head as Itterway shuffled off. ‘Scientists. Mad, the lot of them.’
‘Hey,’ said Shorty. ‘If their crazy ideas bring my Frank home, he’ll be guest of honour at the wedding.’
Raven stayed with the others, then wished everyone good luck and he and Commander Gordon watched the huge freighter and the two fighters blast off on their mission.
Chapter 262
‘I hate this not being able to use the ships radio,’ said Millet.
Captain Dorran said, ‘Mario’s keeping an eye on us. Not that they can do much. Who’d figure about creatures we couldn’t even shoot with lasers?’
Warner said, ‘I’ve been thinking about that. It must be a molecular thing. Vibrations, maybe. The same thing that makes them invisible, gives them the ability to walk through the electrical fields and not be harmed by the lasers.’
Tilly Jordan said, ‘So how do they do physical stuff? They were certainly hurting each other out there.’
Warner shrugged. ‘Not sure. Perhaps it’s a selective ability. They can be physical when they choose to be.’
Millet said, ‘I doubt if we’ll ever find out much about them. If I have my way, this planet will be a no go planet. Those creatures can keep it, as far as I’m concerned.’
Warner sighed. ‘A pity. So much potential here.’
Dorran said, ‘Shush. Did you hear that?’
‘What?’ said Warner.
‘Just…there it goes again.’
This time they all heard it. A soft thumping on the side of the ship.
‘Jordan said, ‘Tell me that’s the engineers at work in the turret?’
‘No,’ said Millet. ‘They’ve knocked off for a few hours sleep.’
Dorran said, ‘Then what…?’
The thumping became louder.
‘It’s them,’ said Millet. ‘One kind or another.’
The hammering became a drumbeat, louder and louder. Not just one doing the hammering, but many more. On both sides of the ship, low down, high up. Then it started on the top, just above their heads. It became so loud those trapped inside had to cover their ears. On it went, louder and louder. Even with their ears covered, it was almost painful.
‘What the hell are they doing?’ yelled Dorran.
‘Messing with our heads,’ said Millet. ‘Trying to scare us.’
Jordan said, ‘Guess what, General? It’s damn well working.’
The hammering seemed to go on for hours. Teeth rattling, gut wrenching blows to the ship that unsettled even the tough D S I people. Then it suddenly stopped. They all braced themselves for something, anything. Nothing happened.
‘I guess they made their point,’ said Millet. ‘We should try to get some sleep while we can.’
* * *
The following morning, everyone’s face told the same story. They were all exhausted and scared. They didn’t voice it, but several were convinced this planet was their final resting place. Millet talked over progress with Camilla.
‘We’ve completely disconnected all the circuitry and wiring to the turret, Sir. Chopped off all the damaged wiring. Now everything is inside the ship, and we just need to connect it all back up again. It’s time consuming, because we have to trace back each individual wire and cable so we don’t accidentally cross something over.’
‘I won’t even dare ask how long,’ said Millet.
‘Well, we can ignore anything dedicated to the turret itself. Several components have blown when things shorted. Some spares we carry, some we can cannibalise. If we just want to move the ship using the landing thrusters, say a couple hundred miles, we might hold it all together long enough.’
Millet said, ‘That might do it. The trouble is, we have no idea just how far these creatures are. We could be just dropping ourselves right in the middle of them.’
‘I guess. One thing at a time, hey General? Let see what we can get working and worry about where to go later.’
‘I agree. If you could sort out the radio, that would be good.’
‘We could have that going in the next couple of hours. At least we can prepare food and drinks.’
‘Right. And a much needed coffee will save my life about now. Let me know when the radio is working.’
‘Yes, Sir.’
Chapter 263
‘Any word from General Millet, Felix?’
‘No, Boss,’ said Commander Gordon. ‘Only from Captain Lupinno. They’re just outside the planet’s atmosphere, about seventy miles above the grounded ship. As far as Lupinno can tell, everything is ok down there. Nobody’s ventured out.’
‘Good. I expect we’ll hear from Frank as soon as they have the radio repaired. Any word from Shorty?’
‘About an hour ago. The work on the canvas tunnel seems to be going ok, but Captain Thorne sees a flaw in our plan.’
‘Only one? We must be doing something right. What’s the flaw?’
Gordon said, ‘ A fairly obvious one, really. The canvas tunnel is being made from scratch in the hold of the freighter. But, it is designed to fit over the main airlocks of the fighters. How do we get it out of the freighter and attached to the fighter that’s going to land? Sure, it can be fitted in space, but the fighter couldn’t land with it attached, because of stability problems it would create. Realistically, it can only be fitted on the ground, which means that the freighter would have to land. Only then can the fighter get in position for those on the grounded ship to cross over to the rescue ship.’
‘Damn. I promised Casey she wouldn’t have to land on that planet.’
‘Can’t be helped, Boss. Unless somebody can think of an alternative idea, that’s how it’s got to be.’
Raven nodded. ‘We have a few days. Let Thorne know you’ve told me. Tell him we’re thinking of
a solution, but he and Casey will have to be prepared to land their freighter, long enough for that tunnel to be fitted. At least the freighter is marsillium coated. Ok. I’m off to see the professor.’
Leaving Gordon to call Thorne, Raven left the hanger and hopped into his buggy, tapping in the coordinates for the university. The buggy stopped outside the main entrance and Raven left it there, safe in the knowledge nobody would touch the Boss’s buggy. Having spent four years at the university before joining the D S I, he was quite familiar with the layout and made his way to Professor Itterway’s office.
‘Come on in, dear boy. Take a seat.’
‘Thanks. Professor. I’ve just come from Commander Gordon’s hangers. He mentioned a hiccup with our plan.’
‘Oh?’ Itterway leaned back in old, brown leather chair and interlocked his fingers across his chest. ‘A big hiccup or a small one?’
‘Not sure. But, the only way the tunnel can be fitted, is for both fighter and freighter to land on the planet, then fit the tunnel to the fighter and then for the fighter to fly into position to hook up with General Millet’s ship.’
‘Hmm. I see. And you’re not too keen on that, I take it?’
‘Not really,’ said Raven. ‘Anything of ours on the planet is at risk. Any ideas?’
Itterway shook his head. ‘Nothing I could pluck out of a hat. Sorry, old chap.’
‘It was just a thought. Actually, I wanted to see you about something else. It would still help us if we understood these invisible beings a little more. This invisibility and they way they can just walk through electrical barriers, and be shot at with lasers, and all that. How does that happen?’
Professor Itterway rubbed his stubbly chin thoughtfully. ‘Obviously, their abilities are all connected. To become truly invisible, an object cannot be seen in the visible electromagnetic spectrum. Black holes are invisible to us because light cannot escape from them. Light is electromagnetic, or if you prefer, energy emission. That’s produced when electrons are accelerated. Since objects can be seen by light in the visible spectrum from a source reflecting off their surfaces and hitting the viewer’s eye, the most natural form of invisibility is an object which neither reflects nor absorbs light. In other words, it allows light to pass through it.’
‘Like glass?’
‘Not really. We can see through glass, but it still reflects light. Visibility also depends on the eyes of the observer and or the instruments used. Not really my field of expertise, I’m afraid. My feelings are that it will be something to do with their subatomic structures. Perhaps the way their protons oscillate, or the spaces between their molecular structure differ to ours, or the refractive index of…’
All this was way above Raven’s head. ‘Professor Itterway. Is there any way we can see these creatures to protect our people? We had the red dye, which worked in a fashion, but the laser power passed right through them anyway.’
Itterway sympathised with Boss’s dilemma. ‘In time we could develop something, no doubt. Without extensive research into these strange beings, one can only assume they have evolved this ability as a defence mechanism. My advice, for what it’s worth, is to get your people off that planet and leave it well alone.’
‘A good idea. I wish I’d thought of it myself. Sorry. We are used to enemies we can shoot and kill. I’d better get going. If anything practical comes to mind….?’
‘I’ll let you know right away, Boss.’
‘Thank you.’
Raven returned to Commander Gordon’s communications centre. ‘Anything?’
‘Yes, actually,’ said Gordon. ‘They’ve fixed the radio. We had a message from General Millet about twelve minutes ago.’
‘They’re safe, that’s the main thing.’
Gordon said, ‘They were under attack during their night-time. Loud hammering on the ship’s hull. Scary stuff, from all accounts.’
‘I can imagine. Anyone take a look outside?’
‘General Millet said nobody was stepping out there, except in an emergency.’
Raven said, ‘I’d like to send a message.’
‘Go right ahead.’
‘To General Millet, Agent Jordan and everyone on that ship. This is Boss. I just want you to know we will do all we can to bring you back safely. As I speak, three ships are on their way and plans are made to get you off your ship and bring you home. We know how tough and resourceful you all are, so just hang on in there. I also want you all to know, General Millet has my total support and confidence in his leadership. I’ve plenty of beer waiting for you so we can celebrate your safe return. Good luck, everyone.’
Chapter 264
‘A nice speech by Boss,’ said Shorty. They had heard it all as had the other ships.
Karma Casey said, ‘He wouldn’t say it if he didn’t mean it. Your Frank is a good man. He loves everyone under his command. You, he loves a whole lot more.’
Shorty nodded and sighed. ‘Yes. He does. And we’ve spilt blood together on the battlefront. That makes a difference.’
Sam Thorne held Shannon on his lap. ‘I remember that time you and he blasted those Masters. That was two people together as one as much as anyone I’d ever seen.’
‘I understand the man well enough to know he’s churning up inside,’ said Shorty. ‘Those words of support will help a little, but not much. Out in the field, the buck stops with him. It’s one thing to lose a comrade in the thick of battle, but they had nothing to fight with this time. He’ll live with this one for the rest of his life, knowing he could have gotten off that rock a lot sooner, and those kids wouldn’t have died.’
‘Boss will be the same,’ said Casey. ‘I remember on Foregone. He felt he was on his own, not even able to trust the D S I. That didn’t slow him down, though. Like Frank, he’ll be feeling guilty for not insisting Frank took off as soon as they knew they were ill equipped to deal with the situation.’
Thorne said, ‘I was D S I and I flew the odd mission with General Millet. I was the pilot when you got hit, Shorty. Remember?’
‘I could hardly forget, Sam.’
Thorne smiled. ‘If I were with General Millet down there, I’d not be blaming the man. At best, he underestimated the enemy. Heck. He didn’t even know for sure that there was an enemy before he landed.’
‘No. He didn’t,’ said Shorty. ‘I’ll go see how the work’s progressing.’
The hold of the freighter was a hive of activity. Seven engineers were hard at work on various stages of the project. The tunnel’s internal skeleton was a strong but light alloy, two metres in diameter. There were to be forty “rings” that were to hold the tunnel together, long enough for the men and women on the downed ship to dash across to the rescue ship, protected from any invisible being projectile vomiting acid all over them. The rings would be held in place by strong canvas straps in the four corners. The ends of the tunnels were the important part of the design, billowing out to cover the two airlocks from acid. A final larger band of alloy ring would be inside the airlocks of both ships, to secure the tunnel at both ends. It was a purely functional, temporary structure, intended to be dumped on the ground, before the rescue ship made a hasty retreat.
Zena Morrison was in charge of the overall project. Although her primary expertise was as the plasma engine expert, there wasn’t much she didn’t know about all aspects of engineering.
‘It’s coming along well, Shorty,’ said Zena.
‘Looking good,’ agreed Shorty. ‘Have you thought any more about fitting the tunnel between the two fighters?’
‘Yes. We really don’t want this ship landing. We do a simple transfer in orbit to the rescue fighter. The airlock is oblong, and we’ve made a couple of modifications to the original tunnel ends so that at an angle, the whole tunnel will collapse and fit in the airlock. A bit fiddly, but it will all fit in. Then, we land the fighter as close to the ship as possible. As long as we are within twenty-two feet between airlocks, lines can be tossed across and the tunnel opened up to bridge
the gap.’
‘We’ll be vulnerable during that time with the airlocks open, Zena.’
‘I realise that, but that’s the risk we have to take. It should only be a few seconds to secure the tunnel ends and cover the whole of the airlocks.’ Zena hugged Shorty close to her. ‘We’re not going all that way to go back empty handed. Now Make yourself useful and grab a brush. We have acres of canvas to coat in marsillium.’
Chapter 265
‘I want you to toss one of your balls out.’
‘I beg your pardon. General?’ said Warner.
‘One of those probes. We can eject one out of an exhaust vent. There’s one in the outer airlock wall. It can only be opened when the ship is unpressurised. I want to take a look outside, and your self-contained probes are the only way we can do that.’
‘Ok, Sir. I’ll go get the equipment. I’ll meet you in the airlock in a couple of minutes.’
Two minutes later, Warner joined Millet inside the airlock. It would have been so tempting to open that airlock, see and feel the sunshine, get a blast of fresh air; risk being killed with deadly acid. Warner set up the case on a ledge and opened it up. The case, with three conspicuously empty spaces, was turned on and the inside of the lid lit up as the screen. Warner selected one probe, admiring the perfect engineering, feeling the solid weight of it in his hand. He passed it to Millet.
‘If you do the honours, Sir. I’ll try to get it in the air before it hits the ground.’
Even though the vent was small, only just large enough to push the probe through, Millet paused before opening it. In his mind, a fire-breathing dragon waited stealthily just outside, ready to bite off his hand. The possible reality of an invisible being who could dissolve that same hand with acid produced in its gut, was even more terrifying.
‘On three,’ said Millet. Warner had his hands poised over the controls, as Millet counted down. ‘One. Two, three.’
In one swift movement, the vent opened and the probe was ejected. Warner had control of the probe, as it dropped to just one foot off the ground.
