NIGHTMARE PLANET
Donald S. Rowland
© Donald S. Rowland 1976
Donald S. Rowland has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
First published in 1976 by Robert Hale & Co.
This edition published in 2017 by Endeavour Press Ltd.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER I
Kyle Barlor stretched himself in the comfortable but cramped quarters aboard Voyager and sighed heavily as he reached out to the desk communicator, opening a line to the control room. It was not yet time for him to consider his duty shift, but he had a hunch that something was wrong, and he had been a spaceship commander long enough to play his hunches, when they came. His pale, lean features were set in harsh lines as he heard Lieutenant Denson, the duty officer, make firm reply.
“Collin, this is the Captain,” Barlor said slowly. “Is everything all right?”
“Can’t see a single red light anywhere on main control,” came the terse reply. “Something worrying you, Captain?”
“I’ve got a hunch!” Barlor sighed, his brown eyes narrowed as he shook his head. “Never mind. It must be tension. We’re still a long way off our destination, and I must be feeling the strain.”
“You have been feeling peaky lately, so you told me on last watch,” came the steady reply. “Why don’t you let the Doc check you over before you come back on the bridge?”
“I might do that, but it’s got nothing to do with my health.” Barlor sighed again. “It’s a hunch! You know how I am with them.”
“Well there’s nothing wrong at the moment,” Denson retorted. “I’d call you if there was something coming up.”
“Sure. Forget I called!” Barlor flipped a switch and closed the line. He paced his cabin, shaking his head, his dark eyes narrowed and calculating, his lean face brooding. He did not accept that he might be feeling the strain of the long flight across far space to the Brontus Major constellation. This was not his first command, and he had captained a ship of this class through many bad patches of travel and all the dangers attendant upon Man’s crawl through the Universe from his own tiny planet. But the hunch had been with him through several duty shifts, and past experience warned him that something was about to happen that had not been scheduled.
He could not sleep and left his cabin, making his way aft to the sickbay. His lips were compressed as he considered. He was twenty-nine now, and in the latter part of his career. But that was not what was bothering him. In fact he was looking forward to retirement, which would come at the end of this trip, if it proved successful. He had spent too many years as a space traveller to care about staying on at the end of his term. But he felt that, in the interests of the ship and fifty-man crew, which included a number of females, he could not afford to leave anything to chance, and he meant to have a check-up.
But before he reached the sickbay the public address system was blaring out the duty officer’s voice along all the empty corridors.
“Captain Barlor, please call the bridge!” The message was repeated three times before Barlor could get to a communicator and report in, and then Denson’s hard voice came to him.
“Captain, you must have a sixth sense, or else you talked up something. Engine room has just come through. There’s trouble in the power input circuits. Sprague is on duty, but he’s calling the Chief now. “
“Is it an emergency?” Barlor demanded.
“Sprague didn’t give any condition. “
“All right. I’ll go down to the engine room immediately. But stand by, Collin.”
“Will do! “ The line went dead.
Barlor stood for a moment, a thin smile of relief on his face. He was pleased that his hunch had not played him false. But he was not happy about any kind of trouble in the engine room. A space ship could not afford any mishap to occur, no matter how trivial. If a disaster occurred — any major defect developing in the ship’s operation — then it meant certain death in these far reaches of Space. They were nine hundred light years out of Earth’s solar system, and there could be no hope of assistance if any were required.
He went quickly to an elevator and descended to the engine room deck. A pang was cutting through his mind as he entered, and he discovered that he had arrived within a few seconds of the Chief Engineer, Linus Royden. He waited in the background, listening to Frank Sprague, the Second Engineer, explaining to Royden what was wrong. Royden, a tall, heavy, dark-eyed man in his early forties, nodded his head from time to time, and his brown eyes lifted towards Barlor, but he gave no intimation of seeing his captain. His whole concentration was upon the younger Sprague’s narrative. Sprague, who was short and fat, with grey eyes and sandy hair, seemed most concerned, and used his hands to describe whatever he was saying. Barlor watched in silence, noting the appearance of both men, and although he had never known Linus Royden to panic in any type of situation, he was aware that Sprague was inclined to get flustered. Some of his own tension seeped away at the knowledge.
“I’ll be with you in a minute, Captain!” Royden spoke in rough tones. His voice seemed to come from deep within his chest. He had long, brawny arms and massive hands. “Let me just check this out.”
“Sure thing!” Barlor nodded emphatically. “I’ll wait for you.”
Royden hurried away, followed by the sweating Sprague, and Barlor moistened his lips. On the surface there was nothing wrong, and he reckoned there could not be any serious defect developing or the general alarm would have been sounded. This was probably just a routine matter.
He went into Royden’s office and used the communicator, getting the control room immediately.
“Bridge! Denson here!” came the duty officers challenge.
“This is the Captain,” Barlor replied. “Have you got anything showing on the engine room control panels?”
“Nothing at all, Captain. Like I told you a few minutes ago, when you first called me, there isn’t a red light to be seen anywhere.”
“All right. I’ll wait here for the Chief’s report. I’ll call you as soon as I learn anything.” Barlor closed the line and sat down at the desk.
He let his thoughts drift back over the past year, since they had taken off back there on Earth. The Brontus Constellation was to be checked out for metal. Earth’s resources in all the vital metals were becoming strained, and many of the planets in other solar systems adjacent to Earth had already been ravaged to supply the ever increasing demands of population. Colonies had been set up on a great many new worlds, some of them capable of naturally supporting human life, and others having to be prepared at great cost in time, money and effort to make them habitable. But the spearhead of the run through Space, carried by men such as crewed Voyager, did not see the results of their discoveries. They merely located the planets containing sufficient materials to warrant action, and pushed on to leave the following fleets of transports and cargo freighters to take away the spoils.
There was another six months of travel to be overcome before they could hope to sight the Brontus Constellation, and Barlor knew that any kind of trouble now would put them behind schedule and probably endanger their lives.
He opened the line of the communicator again, and Denson replied immediately.
“Collin, get the Astrogator on duty to check out the nearest
planet in case we have to go into orbit somewhere, will you?”
“At once, Captain. I’ll call you back in the engine room as soon as I have a location.”
Barlor nodded, satisfied with the efficiency of the crew. If trouble was present in the ship then he could not hope to have a finer crew to handle it. He tapped his fingers upon the desk as he waited, and his lips were pursed, his dark eyes glinting a$ he awaited developments.
The communicator bleeped and he flipped a switch.
“Captain!” Denson’s voice was steady and unflurried as it came through. “Tewkes says there’s nothing within a light year of us. His charts show that we are nearest to Algeno Multerra.”
“I see. Get some figures for me from the computer, will you? At our present speed, how long will it take us to get to Algeno Multerra?”
“I’ll get on to it right away.” The line cut out again.
Barlor got to his feet and paced the office, his mind already working on the problem, and by the time he had decided that they had no hope of reaching a planet if something serious developed, Denson was calling him back, corroborating his estimates.
At that moment Royden came into the office, his heavy face stiff with tension. Barlor stared at his Chief, and felt his spirits fall slightly, for Royden looked worried. But he said nothing, waiting for the Engineer to make a report.
“Captain, I’m afraid I must ask you to cut back on main drive,” the Chief said tersely. “Sprague noticed a fall-off of power, and I’ve checked with the automatic examiner and there is a fault developing in the input power cells. “
“Is that possible?” Barlor countered.
“I’m still wondering about that myself,” came the instant reply. “But the computer can’t be wrong, so we have to be in trouble. “
“Is it serious?”
“It could well turn out to be the start of a disaster if we don’t cut back on our present power-level.”
“That should happen automatically if there is any chance of that kind of trouble occurring, surely! “
“That’s what I thought, but some of the circuits are out of action.” Royden shook his head. “Don’t ask me why you’re not getting any danger lights on the main control panels in the control room. There should be at least half a dozen warnings sounding now.”
“What do you want us to come down to?” Barlor demanded.
“Half our present velocity! “
“Half!” Barlor frowned and reached out for the communicator. He stared intently into Royden’s harshly set face as he called the control room. When Denson replied, he said, “Collin, feed the control computer with the order to reduce main drive to fifty percent. “
“Yes, Captain!” There was no emotion in the duty officer’s voice.
“Are you still getting clear panels?” Barlor demanded.
“Not a red light anywhere,” Denson said. “I’ll come back to you in a moment if you want to talk about it, but I’d better get your order computed. “
“Do that. I’ll be coming up to the control room in a few minutes.” Barlor cut the line again and leaned back in the Chief’s seat. “You’ll get your cutback coming through on your computer in a few seconds, Linus,” he said. “I’ve already asked for an orbit objective in case you need to make repairs.”
“Is there any place within reasonable distance?” There was a doubtful note in Royden’s tones.
“No!” Barlor grinned tightly as he shook his head. “Algeno Multerra is the nearest, and that’s a light year away.”
“So we’ve got to do what we can while on course. But I don’t know what I can do unless I cut main drive completely. It will mean losing velocity, and returning to normal acceleration will take months. It would put our estimated time of arrival in the Brontus Major Constellation too far behind schedule for us to have any hope of making up lost time.”
“You think you’ll have to cut drive completely?” There was a frown on Barlor’s face.
“This half-cut is only a temporary measure!” There was no emotion in Royden’s voice, but his eyes were glittering as he stared at Barlor. “I’m puzzled by a number of factors operating here. I can’t understand why there are no warnings showing on the main control panel. The automatics are not reporting any faults, and yet we have this curtailment of power. If I can find nothing at half-power then we’re certainly going to have to shut down completely. “
“All right.” Barlor nodded and got to his feet. “I rely on your judgement, Linus. Keep me informed. I’m going to the control room to see what I can discover.”
“It will take an hour at least before I can make another examination. In the meantime I’ll check my equipment.” Barlor moved to the door, but paused and looked into Royden’s eyes. “Could this be serious, do you think, Linus?” he demanded.
“It could be anything.” Royden would not commit himself. “I’ll make a full report as soon as possible.”
Barlor smiled and departed, and was thoughtful as he made his way back to the control room. When he entered he found great activity taking place, and Collin Denson turned to him, his fleshy face showing puzzlement. The Lieutenant was medium-sized, with blue eyes and fair hair.
“Captain, Tewkes is getting something on the sensors which don’t make sense,” he reported.
Barlor frowned, for this was a development of what was happening in the engine room. He steeled himself for trouble, aware that mysterious events in space did not occur haphazardly, neither did they come singly.
“What’s the trouble?” he demanded.
“The sensors are picking up a solar system that is not showing on our screens. “
“That’s impossible! “ Barlor’s frown deepened.
“Come and take a look.” Denson moved across the control room to where Lieutenant Tewkes was sitting at his console. There were banks of screens and many registers and dials in front of the astrogator, and he was studying each of them intently, his head moving from side to side as he took them in. “Any change yet, Roy?” he demanded, and Tewkes looked up, startled out of his concentration.
He saw Barlor standing at Denson’s shoulder and shook his head. “I can’t understand any of this,” he commented. “The sensors went haywire for a few seconds, then suddenly began indicating the presence of a solar system, but although I have a range I cannot pick up the presence of the solar system on the screens, although they are capable of giving a picture at this range. “
“How do you account for it?” Barlor demanded. “Do you have a malfunction in your equipment?”
“No, Captain. I’ve already checked it out. The testers are working perfectly, and I can. find nothing at all wrong in any circuit.”
“This is the kind of thing I’ve got from the engine room,” Barlor said. “Power input is failing, yet the examiners show no malfunction. But according to your earlier report the nearest heavenly body is Algeno Multerra.”
“That’s right. The astral charts show this area very clearly.” Tewkes compressed his lips. “There’s nothing between us and Algeno Multerra — at least, there shouldn’t be, but the sensors indicate that there is a solar system.”
“What are you picking up?” Barlor demanded.
“A system of perhaps four planets around a magnitude minus twenty-six star.” Tewkes shrugged. “It should be showing on the screens now.”
Barlor looked at the banks of screens, but could see nothing.
“Are we heading directly for this planetary system?” he asked. “Should we be able to see it on the main scanner now?”
“Certainly.” Tewkes nodded. “Shall I switch on?” He did so at Barlor’s nod, but there was nothing to be seen on the vast screen attached to the forward bulkhead of the control room. “You see! There’s nothing. But according to the sensors we should be seeing that star and its four planets.”
“You have a bearing upon this system?” Barlor was as puzzled as the astrogator himself.
“I’ve got my computer homed on to the star itself.
The information will be coming through. But how can there be a planetary system out there which we cannot see? If it is solid enough for the sensors to pick it up then it should be seen on the screens.”
“We might find the answer to that when we get nearer.” Barlor reached a decision. “We’ve got to cut velocity by half, and the order has gone through to the engine-room to implement this change from routine flight. But the Chief informs me that if he cannot locate the cause of the engine failure at half velocity then we’ll have to decelerate and drift so that he can cut main drive completely and leave the ship inert.”
“That will put us months behind schedule! “ Denson said in surprise.
“There’s nothing else we can do,” Barlor retorted, shrugging. “We have to check this out. If we lose all power we’ll be dead in more ways than one. “
There was a short silence, and then Tewkes shifted uneasily in his seat.
“I’d better check out my screen circuits again,” he commented. “I don’t see how there can be anything wrong, but I’d better make sure. “
“Do that,” Barlor said. “But I don’t think there is anything wrong. None of the control room panels are showing red lights, but there’s trouble in the engine room.”
“Is that a fact, Captain, or are the Chief’s registers showing false readings?” Denson queried.
“That’s a point, but you know the Chief!” Barlor shrugged. “He wouldn’t make any kind of a mistake.”
“Then we just wait around until he’s carried out his checks?” Denson did not seem uneasy, but his eyes were filled with an uncertainty that was uncharacteristic of him.
“It seems that’s all we can do.” Barlor nodded. “The Chief won’t be able to make another check for about an hour. Let’s sweat this out, but in the meantime we’d better check everything checkable!”
“I’ll get to work right away!” Denson turned and went back to the main control console, and Barlor narrowed his bright gaze as he stared around, his brow crinkled as he puzzled over the apparent mystery.
Nightmare Planet Page 1
