Xalata Orbit and Melody Fret: The Hammer of Asttar

by Nick Evans

  He stepped from the TransTrak and walked over to the Institute main entry only to walk into Brett. "My dear, Brett. How wonderful to catch you - has there been any progress with Xalata? Has she appeared yet? I can't believe that that boy, Shaw-Storey, could make up such a tale!"

  "No sign yet, Adolf, I'm afraid."

  "I know our teams have been working as hard as possible to trace her, but as yet there are no clear leads. In my view, we should interrogate the Shaw-Storey boy again and establish what he really knows. That nonsense about a door inside the cupboard - it sounds like a children's story! I'll put that in place and have him brought in for some close questioning ..."

  "Before you do that, Adolf, I'd like to show you something back in my office. Do you mind?"

  "Of course, dear boy, no problem at all. At your disposal." Fark was at his most oily and Brett was not convinced by his tone, or by the fact that he had suddenly gone off the grid for a couple of hours. However, he would question him later on that. The priority now was to find Xalata and to discover who could possibly have sent the note. And, more importantly, how was he going to respond to it?

  * * * * *

  They arrived in Brett's office and both men sat down, facing each other across the small conference table that took up part of the confined space.

  "It's really strange. Disappearing like that. Was Xalata an unstable type at home on Earth?"

  Brett looked at Fark sharply. "What do you mean by that?"

  "Well, was she inclined to run off, be disobedient and so on? She seems to me to be a fairly wilful girl ..."

  "How she seems to you is irrelevant, Adolf," Brett deliberately mispronounced his name. "What's important is what the security services are doing - because to my mind, it's not a lot."

  "My dear boy ..."

  "Enough of the 'dear boy' stuff, I've a daughter who's lost somewhere and now I have received a note from who knows whom, telling me that I have to jump through hoops to get her back! Now, what are your team doing about it?" Brett was getting angry and he was still not sure what his view was of Fark.

  "Well, I must say that I find your attitude a little strong, my d ..., erm, Brett. We have worked together for some time and my care for you and for your daughter are self-evident. Now this note demanding that you jump through hoops, as you put it, and remain silent, that's quite another matter. We shall need to examine that forensically to determine where it came from and ..."

  "I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself," snapped Brett. "And where have you been for the past couple of hours? I was trying to contact you."

  "Ah, I was cloistered with some of my surveillance team, trying to work back on the security footage that was taken during the time the girl disappeared."

  "Xalata."

  "Yes, exactly. Xalata."

  "You seem to be depersonalising this matter, Fark, and for the life of me I can't think why."

  "Depersonalising, hardly. The dear girl is the very focus of my attention."

  "And your surveillance team have found what exactly?"

  "Erm, well, it's too early to say at this point. They need to run some tests on the recordings and check that what they are seeing is accurate ..."

  "Why?"

  "How do you mean, 'Why?'"

  "Why do they need to check back on the recordings - they either show what happened or they don't wouldn't you think?" Brett's voice was raised now and Fark sat uneasily in his chair. "In fact, I don't believe that you've been with your team today, despite what you say. Where you've been, I'm not sure, but I think you were up to no good and I'm going to dig until I find out. Oh, and by the way, I never mentioned that the note had told me to keep quiet - you seemed to manage to intuit that all on your own. How clever!"

  Fark leapt from his seat and dashed to the main door, but he was not as quick as Brett who grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and dragged him back to the chair on which he had been sitting.

  "Sit there, Fark. I want some answers and I shall get them. Move and you'll regret it." My goodness, thought Brett, I'm sounding like something off a cheap movie.

  He stepped towards the kitchen area, keeping his eyes on Fark and dug around in one of the lower drawers to find a roll of tape. "Gaffer tape, Fark. The greatest invention ever made by man. Repair anything. Hold anything. Secure anything - including you." At that moment, Fark's communicator buzzed and both men looked at it as he pulled it from his pocket. "Well it's not me, Fark, so I guess it's one of your evil henchmen! Answer it and make sure I can hear both sides of the conversation."

  Chapter Thirty

  The girls were, frankly, bored out of their tiny minds. They had finished chatting and knew that sitting in the home, waiting for someone to show up was getting them nowhere. Yet, as Xalata had said, if she was discovered to be missing, then there would be a pack hunt for her, probably led by the Cryomorph.

  "I've got it!" she cried suddenly.

  "What? What's the matter," Melody was startled by the sudden shout and turned to face Xalata.

  "If we make it look as if I am still here, even when I'm not, then we can buy ourselves some time and go and get on with finding out what the freak is going on here."

  "Yeah, ok. And how are you intending to do that?"

  "Well, we make a dummy in one of the beds that looks like me. There's some clothes here so I'll change into them, put the dummy in my clothes and then wrap it in the bedclothes to look as if I'm still here!"

  "Genius ... not," scoffed Melody. "You think that'll work? They'll see through it in a moment."

  "No they won't. I'll leave a message saying something along the lines of 'Got bored and went to bed. Not feeling well - I think your food is crap.'"

  "Hmm. OK, maybe it's worth a try. But just remember that I'm fresh out of ideas for keeping the Cryomorph at bay."

  "Oh, I'm not. I know just how we'll do it. C'mon. Let's make that dummy." And Xalata ran off into the bedroom to change.

  * * * * *

  Fifteen minutes later, with Xalata's old clothes stuffed with bedding, towels and other assorted cloth from around the home, plus a head fashioned from a cleaning mop, the bed was occupied by a Xalata clone. The bedclothes were pulled up cleverly, exposing parts of the clothing and the top of the "head" and, with the lights dim, it looked reasonably convincing, at least on a quick look.

  "Great job!" said Xalata as she closed the bedroom door and scribbled a note on the cooler screen. "That should do it. Now, let's make tracks." And with that, she led Melody to the airlock door, opened it with the code and crept out, looking to left and right in case of the return of Fark and Machin or, worse still, the Cryomorph.

  They headed straight back to where they had last seen Castrana Machin, taking care not to be spotted. Once they arrived, eyes open all the time in case the pair who had gone in came out of the airlock door, they hid once more behind part of the building fabric that added a small amount of decoration to the entry to the building.

  "So what do we do now? How are we going to get in there to see what's happening?" whispered Melody. "I just don't see how we can get past them without them noticing."

  "I think we can manage it," said Xalata. "First off, we try the code that they used for the home where I was locked up. People are lazy about stuff like that. And, let's just look back at the number on the other suit in my video - I suppose it was Castrana Machin as she was the smaller one. They might use that. That gives us two chances. My guess is we'd get three goes before the alarm goes off. And, if it does, we'll beat it."

  "OK," said Melody, doubtfully. "I'd prefer not to risk the code thing. They might use something completely different or even a biometric pass on here, like a thumbprint or an retina scan."

  "Yeah, well, you know what the answer is then, if that's the case?"

  "No. What do you mean?"

  "We'll need to get the thumb! Or, better still, the eyeball!" Melody shuddered in disgust while Xalata laughed at her own joke. "Right, let me recall that video," and Xalata ope
ned her pad and scanned for the film that featured the two masked characters. "Yep, look, here. I can see the whole number. We ignored it because we didn't notice it in our excitement. This'll zoom and show us for sure. There you go - 442678." She noted it down and then closed her pad. "Now we just need the opportunity, assuming they're still in there."

  Nothing much happened for several minutes as the two friends discussed their options and waited for the two crooks to appear. They were just beginning to despair, when there was a hiss and the airlock door opened. Out walked Machin, along with another person they didn't recognise - a man with dark hair and skin, wearing a white lab coat.

  "We'll leave it for the day," said Castrana Machin to the man. "The girl is stowed away safe and sound and she can't make any more trouble. Fark is back at the ranch so he'll be dealing with the Orbit guy and the blackmail note. Nothing more to do at the moment until we get a result from Orbit. I'll see you back here at oh-eight-hundred."

  "OK," said the lab-coated man. "See you then."

  The two girls waited until the pair had left the area and then snook out of their hiding place and approached the airlock.

  "Here goes nothing," said Xalata and flipped open a security plate on the door and punched the new code from the video straight into the keypad. Nothing happened.

  She was about to try it again, when Melody said, "Look, the door's not been closed - it's standing ajar." Sure enough, the airlock had not been resealed and there was apparently no need to enter a code to gain entrance.

  "These guys are very sloppy. They're used to having no one around so they're not using their security procedures. All to our advantage!"

  They quietly pulled the heavy door and it slid open silently, then they pulled it half-closed behind them, as they would undoubtedly need the security code to get out again if it was closed properly. The area was half-lit until they began to move forward and automatic lighting kicked in, showing the way to a series of doors. There was evidently no one in the area as the lights had already dimmed.

  They pushed against the nearest door and were surprised to see a brightly lit control room. Entire walls screened the readouts from instrumentation and a large transparent screen faced across the room on a raised platform where someone evidently controlled operations. On one wall, stars shone from a skyscape that Xalata instantly recognised from her astro-navigation classes on Earth. "That's showing our solar system from the perspective of Jupiter," she muttered. "But why?" As they watched it was evident that the scene was changing in tiny steps and she suddenly realised that it was a viewpoint from some space vehicle that was travelling through the solar system. "So what is it? Where's it going?"

  Melody meanwhile, had gone up to the large control screen and was studying the options that were presented on it. Navigation tools were there, along with systems that were making rapid calculations on a three-dimensional star map. She touched the screen and the virtual device under her finger sprang to life, pulling itself up to dominate the screen and showcase the detail of the data that it had been only summarising while it was in a semi-dormant state. She peered intently at it, "This is a navigation control for some sort of space vehicle that's on a course that I don't understand."

  "Let's see," said Xalata and she sprang up on the platform to look. "What's this panel here?" and she touched another area of the screen, which jumped up to show a detailed view of the planet Earth. A trajectory line showed a path from space onto the Earth's surface and, as Xalata moved her fingers over the model and zoomed into the target area, she could see that the end of the line was Beijing, China, heart of the planetary development programme. "So, whatever is flying through space is going to land in Beijing. It's probably an exploration craft that's been on a long voyage outside the solar system, collecting data on planets circling nearby stars. Mind you, that would be a very old craft, if that's the case. Even with newer fusion drives and travelling at say half the speed of light, it would take many years to get there - and that's if it went to our nearest star!"

  "Well, thanks for the astro lecture," grinned Melody. "I'm much wiser, I'm sure. So, we still don't know what it is, where it's coming from, but we do know where it's going."

  "Sure thing, now, what's this panel?" Xalata tapped another area of the screen and a dark, rocky landscape met their eyes. Behind it, a tapestry of stars moved very slowly, but quite clearly. "What the ... what's this? It looks like a part of the Moon, but it's moving. I don't get it." Just for a moment, in one corner of the image she saw a bright flash of light that was there and then gone again. "And what was that? It looked like a flame, but I can't be sure. There's no volcanic activity on the Moon. I'm baffled."

  "Oh my," gasped Melody. "I know what it is. Holy freak! It can't be - my mum told me about this. It's a part of the terraforming programme for Mars. It's a freakin' asteroid!"

  "What do you mean, an asteroid? It's moving."

  "Yes, it's got fusion engines built on to it and they are moving it to hit Mars."

  "Why?"

  "The asteroid contains lots of minerals that are good for the terraforming process - you know what that is, don't you."

  "Yeah, of course - we go to Mars and we make its atmosphere like the Earth's by making it warmer with greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane. Then we put in living organisms like bacteria that let us start growing stuff rather than just doing the hydroponics thing - I have been listening in classes you know!"

  "Well the asteroid is part of the process: we capture the asteroid, drive it towards the planet with the fusion engines and then let it hit the surface. This throws up all sorts of minerals and chemicals like ammonia as well as releasing water and other stuff from beneath the surface of the planet. It's ever so risky, but this programme is working with the rest of the terraforming to make it all happen quicker."

  "Yeah. OK, I get it. So why is its route targeting Beijing?"

  "Exactly!"

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Fark held the communicator in his hand and touched the screen. A voice came through clearly and a face was visible - the same guy in the white lab coat as had been seen by Xalata and Melody on the other side of the Moon.

  "Boss, all's clear. The mission's on target and the girl's locked away. She'll not be disturbing anyone." Fark looked towards Brett who had a face like thunder. "Answer him," Brett mouthed so that the other man couldn't hear him.

  Fark looked back at the communicator. "Thank you, Sparkes. I'm sure everything is under control."

  "You OK boss?"

  "Why, yes. Just a little tired I think."

  "You seemed a bit distracted. Sure everything's OK that end? Did you find that meathead, Orbit?"

  Fark blinked and then responded, "Er, yes, I did and I shall be speaking with him shortly."

  "OK, boss, that's fine. Keep him strung along. He'll never guess!" Sparkes laughed and then said, "I'm off for my dinner. I'll call if there's anything to say."

  "Thank you, yes. That would be marvellous." The call finished and Fark looked at Brett.

  "Meathead, eh? Is that what you think of me?" Fark didn't reply. "Right, let's get you secure," and, with that, Brett grabbed hold of the smaller man, dragged him to a chair and was about to start to wind the gaffer tape around him when Fark suddenly swung his elbow back, caught Brett a blow on the side of the head and then made a dash for the airlock door.

  Momentarily stunned, Brett staggered and then recovered and with a great bound, leapt after Fark as he tried to open the door. "Guess my workouts in the gym are paying off, you little toad. I ought to floor you, but I'm not going to drag myself down to your level." He dragged him back to the chair and Fark seemed to collapse, all the fight gone from him. Brett steadily wrapped the broad tape around Fark's arms and the chair arms and then around his legs and the chair legs. "You're not going anywhere for a while," he muttered under his breath as he worked. "Now, let's see what's in your communicator."

  A look of terror came over Fark, but he didn't say a word,
just sat bound to the chair, looking at the floor.

  "What's certain," continued Brett, "is that you are a bad guy and we know what happens to them in the movies don't we? The question is, what sort of bad guy are you?" He picked up the communicator, walked over to a desk at the other side of the living space and pulled out some electronics from a drawer. "This should help answer that question."

  He connected the communicator to the tools and sat back to wait for the results. "I use these for decrypting signals from space so I don't think your poor attempts at encryption will baffle me for long," and he pulled out a number of documents onto his pad, which he then proceeded to study.

  "So, there is something in that cupboard at the Outpost, after all. And it looks suspiciously to me like a portal - that would chime in with what the Shaw-Storey kid said when we interviewed him. You do know this technology is dangerous and illegal, don't you?" Fark continued to study the floor. "So I'm guessing that Xalata is on the other side of that doorway, wherever that might lead. Where does this particular wormhole come out, Fark?"

  "You'll just have to find out for yourself, won't you? You don't know what you're messing with here, Orbit. You don't let me go and you'll never see your nasty little daughter again."

  Brett took a step towards him and Fark flinched, expecting a blow. "You're not worth the calories, Fark. If you think that I am not going after my daughter, you're completely nuts. And whatever operation is going on behind this, you can be sure I shall expose it. I'm making a guess - and it may be a wild one - but I reckon you might be part of these idiots, the Asttarians. And, if that's the case, I've a very good idea where that wormhole comes out."