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by George Right

  "So you want to say all this began on Earth?"

  "I don't know. I cannot remember. But I feel that this ship was doomed from the very beginning. No, not even feel–I know... knew earlier... I cannot… When I think of it, I am overrun by such despair! But I cannot also stop thinking!" Eve clenched her head with her hands, painfully sticking nails into her temples between the bandages. "So, have you finished here?"

  "I am going to check–about parasites. Now I have a tool to do an autopsy. Certainly I am not going to cut myself though it alone would give full confidence."

  "Erm... Adam! What are you up to?" Eve had turned towards him, looking at him in round-eyed fear. "Are you crazy? This is the way, probably, all this begins!" She took a step back, ready to run away.

  "What's the matter?" He was surprised. "You... decided that I was going to dissect you? Faugh, how absurd! Though..."

  "Though what?"

  "Well no, it's purely theoretically–really, to check whether we are infected inside, it would require one of us to take... but no, I've said, theoretically! I'm not a murderer! I'm going to dissect him!" He nodded at the dead man. "If in his guts I find the same creature as in that man in the corridor, things look bad... and if no, that means, it has crept inside by chance."

  "Even if you find nothing, it may mean the larvae are invisible to the naked eye."

  "Thanks, you calmed me. But even if it is clean inside, it still says nothing about us. But all the same..." Adam squatted and scooted the corpse back over. "I never considered that I would ever disembowel my colleague with his own bone," he said to himself. However, strictly speaking, he didn't know what thoughts he had had in his past. But, indeed, they were unlikely to have been anything like these.

  He thrusted the bone jag into the unnaturally pale belly covered with curly hair. The flesh at first caved in deeply without piercing it, and from the mouth of the corpse, a heavy sigh escaped. Adam shuddered and was dumbstruck, but the next moment he realized that he had just squeezed air out of the body. He pressed more strongly and the skin split its sides, making a terrible crimson mouth. No blood came out, it had clotted long ago.

  Adam felt again an attack of nausea, but now he easily overcame it. After everything seen earlier... The ripped up flesh hardly gave in, as if it were rubber–or maybe his "surgical instrument" just lacked sharpness. He had to exert considerable effort. Yes, it was not at all the same as cutting meat with a knife on a plate (from this thought Adam felt a lump rising in his throat again, and decided that, if somehow he got out from here, he would become a vegetarian). At last he drew the cut to the groin and, grabbing the edges, stretched the flesh apart sideways. Of all things, there was a lot of fat inside, while the dead man didn't look at all fat. So, this wet bag is, obviously, the stomach, he concluded, and here are the guts, similar to a clot of huge slippery worms. The real worms–terrestrial or, the most important, local–however, were not visible anywhere. But to be fully convinced of their absence, it was necessary to cut and glance into each section of the intestines.

  "So was it there?" Eve lost patience. At times she threw fastidious looks in his direction, but did not dare to come nearer.

  "Looks like nothing yet–no larvae, eggs or whatever. Now I will open his intestines. What the hell is that?"

  From a cut made under the stomach something whitish emerged. Adam's hand trembled, but he realized that it didn't look like anything alive. He ripped the slimy tube further and with two fingers pulled from it a crumpled and stuck together lump of a paper.

  "It seems we have mail," Adam muttered.

  "Do you really think so?" Eve all the same overcame herself and stepped inside the room.

  "No, of course not. He hardly expected that he would be dissected, but for some reason he has swallowed this piece."

  "Wouldn’t it be easier to tear it?"

  "You’re asking me? Perhaps he did it in a fit of rage and in the same fit smashed his head against the wall. Or maybe he didn't want someone to reconstruct the sheet from scraps."

  "Again something was hidden from us? Can you unfold it without tearing it?"

  "I will try. By the way, apparently, this paper is firmer than the usual one. Perhaps it's even not a paper at all, it just looks similar. Shit, we don’t even remember what they write on now."

  He managed to unwrap the wet sheet on a floor. Eve, trying not to look at the ripped body, sat down on her knees nearby and pointed the flashlight on to the sheet to see it better.

  Letters were quite distinguishable–this time printed, not hand-written. The text had neither a beginning, nor an end.

  "...neral theory of a dark matter-energy of Bernstein-Wong (Nob.pr. for physics 2063), which showed that the dark matter actually was not some type of hypothesized exotic matter but is in fact a certain phase of the standard one, with the phase transition being completely reversible [3]. The common view that objects in this special phase are capable of motion with speeds greatly exceeding the speed of light is not quite correct. Actually objects in the "dark" condition obey the equations of the Generalized quantum theory [5], from which, in particular, it follows that such an object does not have fixed coordinates in the continuum (or even a fixed projection to the continuum); rather its location is a superposition of all the possible coordinates, the probability of a particular value of the coordinates actualizing, being described by a certain three-dimensional distribution function Φ, which depends on the curvature of the continuum at each point and on the configuration of the dark energy field. Travel of the "dark" ship, accordingly, is in fact a reconfiguration of the field of dark energy performed in a way so that at the moment of the collapse of the ship's wave function (which occurs at field's switching-off), the function Φ possess an above-threshhold value in the vicinity of the destination point. It has been shown by Kozelsky (2065) that for any nonzero Σ it is possible within a finite time (using a finite amount of energy) to carry out the field reconfiguration so that the ship would return to the standard phase within any prescribed set of coordinates with an error of no more than |Σ| [6].

  The postulates of the theory have been experimentally confirmed by Kalkrin's group (2070, 2071), these experiments becoming the starting point for the "Hyperion" program. In 2077 the unmanned probe "Hyperion-1", equipped with the Kalkrin generator, explored the system of the star Gliese 581 and successfully returned to Earth.

  It should be emphasized that the General theory of dark matter-energy, despite its experimental (and even industrial) verification, still does not supply answers to several pertinent questions. In particular, the essence of dark energy remains disputable. The problem of the cosmological constant, according to which the observed density of dark energy as is evidenced by its gravitational interactions is 120 orders of magnitude below the estimated value, remains unresolved. Bernstein explains it with the assumption that most of the dark energy does not manifest itself gravitationally. For an explanation of this cosmological constant problem, a number of hypotheses were offered [3] [7] [8], none of which are universally accepted. In particular, works of Miller (2065) and Birnbaum (2069) [9] [10] are devoted to the criticism of these hypotheses. Chang (2067, 2069) has offered the alternative explanation, according to..."

  "Dark is faster than light," Adam muttered, having read up. "So it is not such nonsense."

  "Apparently we are on a ship with the Kalkrin engine." Eve drew a practical conclusion. "But it said here, after all, that the flight to Gliese 581 was successful?"

  "Unmanned," Adam reminded her. "After that they sent the manned spacecraft... and then something went wrong. As far as I understand it, we didn't return in time from dark phase to usual space. Which is, in fact, no wonder, if all this madness and destruction began. Probably they even broke the computer which would have returned us automatically. But the field generator continues to work, carrying us away all the further. That is, changing probability of our location in such a manner that..."

  "And to return to the normal world, it is
simply enough to switch it off?" Eve interrupted.

  "Yes, but we will appear in the middle of nowhere. Remember the ‘butterfly’ on the screen in the control room? It is a graphic representation of function Φ. We will come up somewhere within it, most likely, near center. I do not know, how much the picture there corresponds to linear scales but if it corresponds, we will appear, at least, hundreds of light years from Earth. And, probably, in tens–from the nearest star. And if the scale is logarithmic, it is even terrible to imagine, where..."

  "In other words, there is no hope to call for help."

  "No. And it is also impossible to send a radiogram from the dark phase."

  "Linear..." Eve muttered suddenly.

  "What?"

  "A picture in the control room. If it indeed is linear–at least approximately–and if we were to draw a line through the Sun, Gliese 581 and the screen center, it turns out that the Sun is father from us than Gliese. And if all that happened had occurred on the way back, and we had slipped Earth, it would have been on the contrary."

  "That is you want to say that we didn't land in Gliese 581 system?

  "Indeed. It is difficult to believe that we landed there, and then continued to fly in the former direction. And the image on the screen–after all, this star there has been emphasized."

  "Where then have these wretches come from?"

  "I don't know."

  Adam kept silent, then again took the skull shard. "Anyhow, they are here. And I should finish the check."

  Further picking in the intestines of the dead man, however, did not resulted in any discoveries. Adam found some more pieces of paper, but they were too small and raveled out under his fingers. Apparently this man had torn a part of the list to pieces before swallowing it. Probably a professional criminologist with the appropriate equipment would manage to restore the full text, but it was beyond Adam capabilities. He already felt sick from what he had done, and, above all, from growing perception of hopelessness regarding all their efforts.

  Any traces of parasites in the corpse, however, were not found.

  "I still think that in the system of Gliese 581 there is life," Adam said, rising. "Otherwise we wouldn't have been sent..."

  "Life in the system of Gliese 581 was found out by the probe ‘Hyperion-1,’" suddenly said a calm male voice.

  Both Adam and Eve shuddered. Eve darted a wild glance at the dead man. It seemed to her that it was he who had spoken. But the grinning jaws of the corpse remained motionless, while the voice continued.

  "From the seven planets of the system, potentially habitable are the third, the fourth and the fifth. The orbital scanning by the probe ‘Hyperion-1’ has shown that the average temperature on the surface of the third planet is about 360 degrees Kelvin because of the greenhouse effect, and the quantity of free oxygen in the atmosphere is not enough to support aerobic forms of life. At the same time, the atmospheric composition and radiation level do not exclude the presence of anaerobic forms on the third planet...”

  "Who are you?" Eve shouted, raising her head up to a ceiling.

  "Easy," Adam answered in a low voice. "The vocal interface of information system somehow activated."

  "... remains unclear," continued the voice. "The atmospheric composition and practical absence of a magnetic field on the fourth planet make it, most likely, unsuitable for life. No signs of lift were actually revealed. Conditions on the fifth planet are more favorable. The average temperature of the surface is 280 degrees Kelvin (considerably varying during a year because of the high ellipticity of the orbit. However, a year lasts only 67 days, which, together with the considerable mass of the planet and its atmosphere, mitigates temperature fluctuations). A sizable part of the planet is covered by ocean, free from ice in tropic latitudes. The presence in the atmosphere of twenty-six percent oxygen testifies to its biogene origin. Direct proofs of presence of life on the planet were received by landing modules A and B, which found bacterial flora in the water and soil, respectively. Orbital observation allows the assumption of the presence of extensive vegetative tracts on a land of tropical belt and large forms of life in the ocean, though, according to opinion of doctor Nakamura, a possibility of other interpretation of the received data still remains. Further research of both planets with disembarkation on surface is necessary. However, the gravity on the third planet is 2.7 g, and on the fifth is 3.4 g, which hinders human work on the surface. Consequently, though the starship ‘Hyperion-3’ is designed for eleven crewmen, nobody..."

  Something clicked and the voice broke off.

  "Hyperion-3," Adam loudly and distinctly said. "Information on the ship ‘Hyperion-3.’ Expedition course. Crewmen. Diagnostics. Emergency situations onboard."

  But his appeals remained without an answer. The damaged system died as unexpectedly as it had begun.

  "Damned metal crap." Adam wearily exhaled.

  "Yes," Eve responded dead-pan. "Damned. We were damned from the very beginning. Kalkrin, Wong, Nakamura... everybody concerned with this project..."

  "Not everybody," Adam objected. "In the listing other scientists were also mentioned. Bernstein, Kozelsky... who else... Miller...

  "Probably they are theorists," Eve answered. "They didn't participate directly in the ‘Hyperion’ program."

  "And what? What's wrong with this? I don't believe in any mystical nonsense. Though... well, let us assume, nevertheless, that those landing modules have brought some sort of infection to Earth. Well no, that's nonsense. We wouldn't have been sent anywhere in that case."

  "Explain more clearly why our ship is called ‘Hyperion-3,’ when there’s no mention of the second–only about the first probe."

  "Well, probably the second was sent to survey another star. Therefore it doesn't relate to the topic."

  "I do not think that interstellar expeditions are such a cheap pleasure, nor is life in space such a frequent phenomenon that mankind would stray from this course. If the first probe has found an inhabitable planet, plus also one more where at least anaerobic life can exist, for certain the subsequent programs would be focused in this direction. And ‘Hyperion-2’ was sent there. Only it hasn't returned."

  "And, without having understood the reasons of it, they sent us? As you say, it's a too expensive pleasure."

  "Perhaps we were a rescue party. Or it seemed to them that they have found the reason, but it was only a consequence."

  "All right." Adam heaved a deep sigh. "Do you have any ideas? Well, other than that all is hopeless?"

  "Well, we still didn't complete the exploration of the level where we regained consciousness."

  "Okay, let's go." He somehow mopped up his hands on his "skirt" and armed himself again with the bone weapon. He gave the flashlight to Eve, wishing to keep one hand free.

  They went downstairs again and walked along a corridor which before had led Adam to Eve's jail. Only now he turned not to the left but to the right.

  And almost at once he found himself before a door with a red cross on it.

  "The infirmary," he ascertained. "Well, at last. It absolutely slipped my mind that it should be somewhere on the ship. I hope there are antidepressants there. I for sure wouldn't refuse of them." With these words he opened the door.

  "Oh m-my..." Eve exhaled, convulsively turning away.

  Here light was shining, too, lighting up medically white walls, empty cabinets with open transparent doors and racks with the broken equipment. On a couch along a wall there lay a naked female corpse, decapitated and disemboweled. And in the middle of the room, tied to armchairs, two more bodies sat opposite one another. They were dressed in once blue, but now brown, stiff from blood, overalls (but they had no footwear, only socks). At the left was a man, and at the right a woman. Her gender, however, could be guessed at only based on her figure, for her face was hidden by blood-stained bandages. More precisely, the remaining part of her face.

  "Well, so we have found those who have undressed the pilots," Adam murmured.

&nb
sp; "You... do you see, with what they are tied?" Eve squeezed out from herself, trying not to look.

  "Yes," Adam calmly answered. "Entrails! But not their own–hers," he nodded towards the couch.

  Indeed, no wounds could be seen on the corpse of the sitting ones, at least while they were in clothes. But their heads were sawn practically in half–a rough, inept horizontal cut passing over the eyebrows. The dirty surgical saw by which it had been done lay on the floor between the armchairs. Also, both of the tops of their skulls, still covered with skin and hair, lay nearby. Whoever the unknown fan of trepanations was, he obviously had not taken pains to shave the heads of his "patients." Judging by the blood which covered their faces, they were still alive when it was done to them.

  But that was not the most horrifying thing of all. Most likely the one who cut off someone’s skull did not hurt the brain, only bare them–anyway, initially. But here lumps of brain, similar to big dead slugs, were scattered all over the infirmary. And this was not done all at once. The tools used for this purpose were very visible–ordinary tablespoons. One of them stuck out of a skull of the man, as if left in a appalling kettle. The second one lay under his powerlessly hung arm.

  "The one who has done this..." Eve began, having first thrown a fast sidelong glance and then having turned away again.

  "There was no mysterious murderer," Adam interrupted. "They have done this by themselves."

  "What... what are you saying? You mean, tied themselves, then..."

  "Not each one–himself. Each other. Look, their heads are firmly tied to headrests, but their right hands are free."

  "There is only one saw," Eve observed, having taken one more look.

  "Yes, obviously, they had to saw each other's head in turns. But there were enough spoons to scoop out each other's brains simultaneously. Well, otherwise it wouldn't be possible."

  "Do you think," Eve squirmed, "they ate this?

  "Give me the flashlight."

  Adam approached the dead bodies and illuminated the drooping open mouths.