by Alan David
‘Many times!’ The woman nodded, not looking around now.
‘Point out where the space craft usually stands!’ Clark was craning forward, trying to get his first glimpse of the spaceport. He saw the complex, and noted several large craft on the acres of smooth concrete. A tight knot of anticipation and worry began to swell inside him, and he found he was breathing shallowly, tensely. Mallory was beginning to mutter angrily, and Clark looked towards Balfin.
‘What’s on your mind, Commander?’ the Major demanded instantly.
‘We’ll try and get down as close as possible to the ship, and you’ve got to get out of here and aboard the craft as quickly as possible. You’ve got the other Laser, Hanton, and you’ll have to cover the rest of us while we transfer to the spaceship.’
‘Will do, Commander,’ the Gunner said, tightening his grip on the Laser in his hands.
They began to circle the vast complex, and Clark found himself almost breathless with excitement. There were some skyrafts in the air, but none of them in the space over the spaceport. Clark saw quite a number of emplacements around the perimeter, and they were manned. A string of coloured flares suddenly blossomed in the sky, and Ralip instinctively veered away.
‘Keep going around,’ Clark ordered. ‘We’re committed now. We can’t cut and run. Can you pick out which ship is the one we want, Ralip?’ He glanced anxiously at the woman.
‘They’ve always gone up from that area over there!’ Ralip pointed to the right.
Clark leaned over and peered through a viewport and saw two large craft almost side by side in the area indicated.
‘Two of them!’ Balfin rapped. ‘What gives?’
‘Is this some of your work, Quartus?’ Clark demanded, looking at the silent Brutan, who had turned his head and was staring at him with glittering eyes.
The man nodded slowly. He was gagged and unable to speak, but the animal-like sounds he emitted seemed to convey his great pleasure.
‘We’re getting out of this alive,’ Balfin said angrily. He jabbed the muzzle of his Laser against the Brutan’s skull. ‘If we don’t make it, Quartus, then neither will you. Make up your mind to that. I’ll have an eye on you the whole time, and if it looks like we are gonna fail then I’ll burn a hole right through you.’
‘What are those two craft, Ralip?’ Clark demanded. ‘Which one looks like the regular flight craft?’
‘The one on the right, I think,’ came the uneasy reply. ‘I can’t really tell. Sometimes they use one type and sometimes the other.’
‘We’re on our way down now,’ Clark said tightly. ‘I guess you better drop in between them, Ralip. We’ll try one, and if that isn’t right we’ll take the other.’
‘I doubt if we’ll get the opportunity to change horses in midstream, Commander,’ Balfin rapped. ‘We’ve got company coming up to join us.’
Clark saw the group of skyrafts lifting from the spaceport itself, and he clenched his teeth. There were still shoals of flares erupting overhead, and now the communicator began chattering again, but Clark had switched off the transmuter and he did not know what was being said. He stared down at the two craft they were making for. One looked deserted and derelict, with closed hatches and apparently no state of readiness for flight. The other had an airlock open, with a ramp leading up to it, and as he studied it, Clark saw a couple of Brutans moving around in the airlock.
‘If Quartus put two craft together to fool us into making an attempt then I figure the one with the open airlock is the decoy,’ Clark said. He knew this was a life or death decision ‘To get through that airlock we’ll have to land between the two craft, and that could be a death trap. Ralip, take the one on the right. We’ll be covered by its hull from that open invitation.’ He glanced at Quartus as he spoke, but there was no expression on the Brutan’s heavy features. He did not know if he was guessing right or not. ‘Straight down,’ he snapped. ‘Let’s get in there, Ralip. Stand by, Kester. We’ll go into that ship together and take the flight deck.’
Balfin nodded. Ralip sent the skyraft dipping low over the complex, and Clark looked around and saw a stream of sky-rafts coming in fast pursuit. He knew it would be touch and go. They wouldn’t get any kind of a chance to duck out if their first guess proved wrong. He lifted a hand to the handle of the door at his side, his teeth clenched, his eyes narrowed.
‘Hanton, cover us with the Laser, and keep Quartus under guard the whole time. Ralip, soon as we get out you help Magenta with Mallory. Get him on the ship as quickly as you can.’
They did not speak, but heads were nodding furiously. Clark saw the ground swinging as the skyraft veered a little, and then they were dropping straight down to the smooth ground beside the spacecraft on the right.
Before they stopped moving Clark had the door open and was leaping out of the skyraft. He pulled his sidearm as he ran the few yards to the airlock of the giant ship. Punching an activator, he was slightly surprised when it worked and the airlock door opened. He was about to step into the craft when Balfin thrust past him and opened the inner door. The next instant Balfin was rushing inside, and Clark paused in the doorway to look around.
He saw Ralip and Magenta struggling to get Mallory out of the skyraft. Hanton was already outside, crouching beside the raft, his Laser ready, one eye on the motionless figure of Quartus, still in his seat. A glance at the sky showed Clark a dozen skyrafts swooping down, and he tensed as he expected bursts of fire to strike at them. Then he turned and entered the ship, running along a corridor to the flight cabin up front.
Balfin was in the cabin, confronting one frightened Brutan mechanic.
‘Take him with you,’ Clark rapped. ‘Get back to the airlock and hurry our people aboard, Kester. Let me know as soon as everyone is safely on. I’ll get to grips with this.’
Balfin nodded and motioned for the Brutan to precede him. When they had departed Clark looked around the alien ship, his professional curiosity aroused. But there was no time for him to try and learn. He knew he needed Ralip’s command of the Brutan language to enable him to decipher most of the unintelligible labels on the controls confronting him.
He was standing in a spherical room containing a mass of apparatus and machinery. Several seats were mounted before consoles overflowing with panels and switches and screens, and he tightened his lips, trying to use his knowledge of spacecraft to aid him in this impossible task. He crossed to what appeared to be the main control console and experimentally flicked a few switches. Red lights flickered on, winked, and went out to be replaced by green dots. Dials began to register, and he moistened his lips as he wondered how he would ever get this monster off the ground. He began operating all the switches on the console.
Moments later Ralip appeared, her face tense, her eyes showing a great deal of concern. Clark had forgotten his own fears in his interest, and he switched on the transmuter and hurriedly asked a host of questions.
‘The others are aboard,’ the woman said. ‘How can I help you?’
‘Tell me what these labels say,’ Clark said quickly. ‘You can fly a skyraft so you’ve got a mechanical mind. Help me get the main drive started.’
The woman stared at the mass of panels and switches, and began reading out the labels. Clark followed her intently. He clenched his teeth when he felt the ship jar slightly, and a frown touched his forehead although he did not break his concentration. They were under attack! The knowledge passed across the face of his mind and disappeared. He felt sweat trickling fast down his face, but he ignored it. He placed a hand over a pattern of tiny white lights and a panel of indicators in front of him flickered into life.
Slowly he went through the sequence of animating the circuits of the ship. Ralip interpreted for him, and Clark knew that but for the semantics transmuter he would have been hopelessly bogged down.
He left the cabin and ran back to the airlock, feeling the ship jarring several times as he did so. He came upon Mallory lying on the floor, and Hanton was at the airlock door,
his Laser in his hand.
‘Where’s Balfin?’ Clark demanded. ‘I’m as ready as I can be to try a take-off. You’ll have to be strapped down before we can move.’
‘The Major is outside trying to get Magenta in, Commander,’ Hanton said.
‘What happened to her?’ Clark asked, snatching the Laser from Hanton. ‘Watch the airlock. Take my gun.’
He went through the airlock and peered outside. The skyraft was where they had left it, and Balfin was crouching down beside it, using his Laser against the skyrafts peeling out of formation and swooping down at the spacecraft. Magenta was sprawled on the ground beside the Major.
Clark tightened his lips and ran across the concrete to the skyraft, and Balfin turned a grinning face towards him as he paused in taking on the enemy.
‘We’ve got to get out of here,’ Clark said. ‘Grab Magenta and let’s go.’
‘Leave her, Commander,’ Balfin said. ‘She’s dead. It was Mallory’s fault. He pulled away from her as she was helping him out of the skyraft. I sent Ralip to help you soon as I could. She could have handled Mallory, but I figured you would need her in the control cabin.’
‘You figured right.’ Clark tried to keep his eyes off the dead woman. ‘Come on, Kester. There’s nothing left here for us to do. We’ve got one chance, let’s take it.’
‘You go on ahead and I’ll follow you. These skyrafts are hitting the spaceship. If they damage it we’ll never get off the ground.’
Clark paused to take on a skyraft that came wobbling down to attack, and he saw it disintegrate under the power of the Laser. He ran back to the airlock and turned to fight again, while Balfin hurried to join him. They entered the airlock and Clark sealed the door. Then they entered the craft and Clark dropped the Laser and started running for the control cabin. He entered, to find Ralip still switching on various banks of controls.
‘I have discovered the control computer,’ the woman said, smiling widely. It is in operation. There is a preset programme of flight which should take us into orbit.’
The craft swayed, and Clark tightened his lips. He turned as there was movement at his back, and he saw Balfin and Hanton carrying Mallory. Towards the back of the cabin there was a row of couches, and Clark motioned for them to strap themselves down. He went to the command console and strapped himself into the upholstered seat facing it. Ralip came to his side. She was not scared any longer.
‘You must press this button to set us in motion,’ she said.
Clark nodded, and his right thumb hovered over the button.
‘Get yourself fastened to a couch and I’ll make the effort,’ he commanded. ‘Let’s get out of here if we are going to make it.’
She hurried away, and Clark felt the craft jar again. He could feel tension building up again. This was the great moment. Either they would blast off the ground or they would remain dormant, doomed to capture and certain death. He moistened his lips, afraid that an anti-climax was about to hit them. Then he saw Ralip was on her couch and he thumbed the button. He blacked out almost instantly as the ship blasted off the ground and reached for orbit …
Clark came to his senses to find himself hanging over the straps holding him in his seat. There were bleepers sounding insistently, and he blinked at the rows of flashing red and green lights before his eyes. He saw a large blank screen to his right and punched a button beneath it, bringing an image of Muta to life on the screen. His ears were buzzing and his head ached, and when he touched his face he found blood drying at the corners of his mouth.
Turning, he saw the others unstrapping themselves from the couches, and Ralip hurried to his side. Clark looked around.
‘We’ll need a defensive screen around us, Ralip,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘They’ll fire missiles at us.’
She turned to consider the controls, then flipped a few switches and depressed some buttons. Two more screens became animated, and Clark stiffened when he saw a dozen bright dots showing on the smaller screen.
‘Missiles,’ he gasped.
Balfin hurried to his side, staring at the screen.
‘They’re missiles all right,’ the Major declared. ‘This is where we get it like Probe 2 did! Have we any deflector screens on this ship?’
‘I don’t know, and I wouldn’t know how to operate them if we had.’ Clark spoke through his clenched teeth. ‘Hold tight. If we can get out of orbit we’ll be able to outrun them. We can chart a course later, but right now we’re pulling away from Muta.’
He stabbed a long forefinger at the main drive button, and Balfin went spinning away across the cabin as acceleration blasted through the ship. Clark felt himself being pressed back into his seat by invisible hands, and he stared at the screens in front of him. He knew by the sudden movement of the planet towards the lefthand side of the screen that the ship had suddenly altered course under the driving force of the acceleration, and he glanced at the smaller screens. The missiles seemed to be losing speed, dropping back, and he clenched his hands as he waited and watched. He didn’t care where they headed so long as they cleared Muta.
Moments later Balfin came crawling back to his side, and the Major arrived in time to see the white dots of the missiles flaring harmlessly as they exploded out of range. The sphere of the planet was edging right off the larger screen and Clark knew they were out of orbit and putting space between themselves and the nightmare that had existed from the moment they detached from Probe 2.
Balfin was grinning widely, relieved because they had accomplished the impossible. But Clark was in no mind for celebration. As far as he was concerned the hardest part was still to come. He had to navigate their course back towards Earth, and there were signals to be sent. He supposed Probe 3 would already be on its way to Muta, and the necessary warnings had to be issued. He glanced at the big screen, and now Muta had shrunk to half its former size and was rapidly decreasing all the time.
Clark took a deep breath and tried to kill the remnants of the horror that still clung to the inner recesses of his mind. He had his duty to steady him, and he got out of his seat with determination filling him. There might be pursuit! He had to take that into consideration. Then there was the matter of writing up a report! He shook his head slowly as he tried to find words to put substance into the half-formed thoughts in his mind. The report would have to wait. Each moment of time took them farther from Muta, and time was what he needed to quell the horror of what they had left behind.
For the first time since Probe 2 had been destroyed he found himself aware that he had time. They had dragged themselves clear and now the future was stretching before them once more, illimitable, like Space itself!
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You might also be interested in RIFTS OF TIME by Alan David:
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