There were ten of them assembled in the shuttle prepared to detach. Barlor sat at the controls, although he would not have to operate them until the final moments of landing. Behind him in the seats were Major Hammond, Lieutenant Franklin and four security guards, and Professor Tosk and her two male assistants. A crate of instruments was at the rear of the craft. Barlor, listening to Tewkes counting down over the communicator, turned awkwardly in his space suit and checked that all members of the crew were correctly dressed and strapped into their seats. He satisfied himself that they were ready, and leaned back in his seat.
“Ten seconds to detach,” Tewkes said over the speaker, and Barlor glanced through the port beside his head and saw the outer airlock door slide open, revealing black space. A pang stabbed through him as he imagined all the countless light years of vacuum out there, and his heartbeats quickened at the thought of leaving the security of the ship. He had suffered this pang many times during his career, for it was something he just could not accustom himself to. “…Four…three…two…one… Detach!” Tewkes ended, and with the cessation of his voice the shuttle tremored and slid sideways out from the parent ship. For a moment it was held beside the larger vessel, and Barlor tried to glimpse outlines, but the interior lights in the shuttle prevented vision beyond the ports, and he moistened his lips inside his helmet, waiting for the inevitable release. The next instant the shuttle tilted slightly to starboard, and Barlor knew they were free. He narrowed his gaze and glimpsed light shining through an observation port in the parent ship. It was gone in an instant as the bigger craft followed its set orbit, and Barlor knew they were on their own.
“Captain to Voyager!” he said instantly, flipping the communicator switch to transmit. “We have detached.” His gaze swept the control panel before him. “All systems working normally.”
“Good luck, Captain!” Tewkes sounded as if he were relieved that he was still aboard the larger craft, and Barlor smiled as he pictured the astrogator’s face. “You’re programmed to land in daylight. We will remain in contact while we are above your horizon.”
Barlor left the communicator on receive and studied the controls. Green lights were operating, and he did a rapid check of all circuits, satisfying himself that all was perfect. He peered through the port at his side in an attempt to orientate himself, but could not see the planet, and reached out and switched on the small scanner screens. A picture of the planet loomed up on the main screen, and he knew by its position that the shuttle was descending. There was nothing he had to do until they reached the planet, but he watched the detector screen very closely, afraid that he would spot those tell-tale dots marking the approach of missiles.
The planet neared on the screen, its outline hazy with atmosphere, and Barlor stiffened in his seat as he watched for details. The sensors on the craft were operating, but there were no danger warnings, and they rapidly approached the surface of the planet. There was sudden pressure against his feet and seat, and he knew the control computer was handling their braking system. Retro-rockets were blasting intermittently, slowing them for the landing. The altimeter began to operate, and suddenly they were hovering at two thousand feet.
Cameras were clicking from their positions on the exterior of the hull, and other instruments were automatically checking on the information already gathered by Professor Tosk. Barlor watched the altimeter, and saw the black needle slipping back around its dial. He checked the screens, finding that they were descending to a grey plain, and again the craft hovered when the altimeter showed two hundred feet. Barlor took over the controls then, disconnecting the computer, and he piloted the craft still lower, watching the landing screen, following the changing coordinates as sensors gave a stream of information relating to speed, height and direction.
They had to ascend a hundred feet to avoid hitting the green-covered side of a low plateau, and Barlor glanced sideways at Major Hammond.
“Major, watch from your observation port and let me know if you spot anything interesting. Professor Tosk tells me that this planet is uninhabited, but those missiles that were fired at the ship came from here.”
“I am watching, Captain,” Hammond replied. “We’re all making observations from the various ports.”
Barlor nodded, watching the forward scanner screen. They passed over the plateau, which was covered with what seemed to be grass or lichen, and continued over the grey plain. The sun was a quarter way up from the horizon, and Barlor checked his wrist-chrono. Presently the greyness beneath them changed imperceptibly to reddish-brown, then a more gaudy orange, and Barlor supposed they were passing over a desert. Then Hammond called excitedly.
“Captain, over on the port side! There are buildings, and they look like a military installation to me.”
Barlor reacted instinctively, taking the craft down almost to ground level, firing all retro rockets to reduce speed, and he swung the craft to get a look at whatever it was Hammond had spotted. A picture of some kind of stone buildings appeared on the screen, and Barlor clicked up the magnification to maximum in order to bring out the finer details.
“You’re right,” he said heavily. “I can see missiles on launch-pads. Professor Tosk!” He called without taking his eyes from the screen. “You said there were no traces of life on this planet!”
“That’s right, Captain. These defensive positions must be unoccupied.”
“We’ll have to check it out.” Barlor narrowed his eyes as he brought the craft around still more and flew towards the cluster of buildings and the missile site. Within two minutes they were landing evenly upon the hard ground and, as he switched off the drive, Barlor cautioned everyone to remain still. “Let’s not make any mistakes,” he warned. “If this place is automated then there could be some nasty surprises for intruders.”
“I can check it out for you, Captain,” Mahla Tosk said. “If you’ll let me and my two assistants out of the shuttle we’ll look over the installation and tell you if it’s safe to enter.”
“Okay!” Barlor pressed a lever and cracked the hatch. A shaft of sunlight stabbed in through the opening, and he noticed that the temperature gauge reacted violently, indicating a decrease of twenty degrees Centigrade.
Professor Tosk moved clumsily in her space suit, and she was carrying a black box in her hands as she clambered out through the hatch. Barlor watched, and when the professor and her two assistants were outside the craft he motioned to Hammond.
“Major, a couple of your men should be out there with them, just in case. Take the heaviest weapons we have.”
Hammond nodded and motioned to Lieutenant Franklin, who in turn indicated a couple of men, and he led them outside. They stood beside the professor, weapons covering their surroundings. Barlor waited patiently, unable to feel the change of temperature inside his suit. The shuttle was some three hundred yards out from the perimeter of the installation, and he sat watching the buildings and the more ominous outlines of the missiles on their launching pads. Moments passed unnoticed, and then Professor Tosk’s voice sounded over Barlor’s suit communicator.
“Captain, I can inform you that there are no force fields in operation around this site.” The feminine voice sounded quite out of place.
“Thank you, Professor. Major, will you take your guards and move in to check out the site? We’ll wait for your clearance.”
“Right away, Captain.” Hammond motioned for the rest of his men to depart from the craft, and their figures were brilliantly outlined under the blazing sun. They spread out in a diamond-shaped formation and crossed the bare ground steadily, moving sluggishly in their constrictive suits.
There was silence while the figures continued, and Barlor felt some of his uneasiness fading as the distance between the patrol and the buildings decreased. Hammond halted some fifty yards out from the nearest building, leaving the Lieutenant with one man, then going on with the other three. They disappeared into the building, and moments later Hammond’s voice came to Barlor via their personal communi
cators.
“Captain, this place is deserted,” the major reported. There is thick dust everywhere. It looks as if there’s not been anyone here for a long, long time.”
“Check out the rest of it,” Barlor ordered, and watched the figures moving on, fanning out to encompass the whole site. Fifteen minutes later Hammond reported that the place was deserted.
Barlor ordered the professor and her assistants back into the craft and sealed the hatch. He flew in a long hop into the centre of the installation and switched off again, then alighted from the shuttle and approached Hammond, who was standing in the doorway of what appeared to be the control centre of the site.
“This place is a rocket site, and obviously programmed to operate by remote control, Captain,” Hammond reported. “There’s a mass of equipment here that I don’t understand, but I think it is fairly obvious that those missiles fired at us before we turned into orbit came from this site, or another like it.”
Barlor entered the block-house type building and peered around its dim interior. It was illuminated by slits in the thick walls. There were banks of panels, each filled with numberless switches and controls. Somewhere in the background the faint hum of power was imperceptibly throbbing.
“There’s the main control computer,” Barlor commented, pointing to a massive metal housing in the centre of the floor space.
“One of the other buildings houses a detector system,” Hammond said.
“So we can assume that this planet is merely an automated outpost for one of the others which is inhabited,” Barlor mused. “We’ll need to await Voyager's return for a report on those other planets.”
“I heard that Voyager won’t complete its initial orbit for two days.” Hammond’s voice was metallic over the communicator.
“That’s right!” Barlor glanced around. “We’re going to carry out a survey of the rest of this planet while we’re waiting for Voyager to return. There’s no point us remaining here. It’s obvious that no one has visited this place in years.”
Hammond recalled his men and they went back to the shuttle. Barlor took a last look around before entering and closing the hatch. He was sweating from his exertions as he regained his seat.
“Professor,” he called. “Before we left Voyager did you get the chance to take any readings of the other three planets in this system?”
“No, Captain. There was barely time to completely survey this planet.” There was an edge to her tones, a sense of reproach because he had been impatient for information.
“Well it’s likely that we have landed on the least important one. I think this is just an outpost that is used to guard the approaches to the inhabited planet.”
“We ought to have stayed aboard the ship until we had made a complete orbit of the system and surveyed all planets. It would have saved time and effort.” Professor Tosk did not seem happy, and Barlor glanced at her. The visor of her helmet was gleaming, concealing her expression, but there was no mistaking the tone of her voice.
“Time is in short supply!” Barlor retorted. “This is a side issue. We have to get on to Brontus Major.”
He switched on the ignition and they lifted from the ground and began to sweep across the surface of the planet, their cameras clicking ceaselessly. Following the daylight, Barlor maintained a low height, and their technical equipment made recordings of the data being obtained. Watching the time, Barlor knew when to call it a day, and landed the craft.
“We’ll take a break,” he said. “Let’s get out the thermotents and camp. It will be too cramped inside the shuttle for all of us.”
“We’ll attend to setting up camp, Captain,” Hammond said, and supervised the work of his men, who proved quick and efficient. Night came upon them by the time they were ready to sleep, but a guard rota was compiled and while most of them slept their camp was alert.
Next day they continued with their survey, and Barlor could not keep his mind from what was happening around the other planets in the system. Voyager would have made a sweep of the entire system by now and should be on its return orbit. He checked his wrist-chrono and calculated that he would have to return the controls to the computer before eighteen hundred hours.
They discovered a number of other missile sites, and dropped in to check them all. None was occupied, and each showed signs that their builders had not been near for many years. But each station was operational, and Barlor was concerned that something might trigger off the missiles that were ready for action on their launching pads. He broached the subject to Major Hammond.
“I’ve been considering that angle myself, Captain,” the major replied seriously. “But there are many aspects to this I don’t really understand. Why was it necessary for these missiles to be situated here anyway? This is a deserted planet.”
“I think the answer to that is this is an outpost defending one of the inhabited inner planets,” Barlor replied.
“True, and we’ll know more about that when Voyager returns for us.” Hammond shook his head slowly, filled with doubt. “I think perhaps we should have checked out the whole system before landing here, Captain.”
“You’re entitled to your opinion,” Barlor said, smiling grimly. “But we are in no danger.”
“Voyager could be! If there are missiles on any of the other planets!”
“They are not heavy enough to damage Voyager,” Barlor cut in. “These missiles here seem to be very light, as if they are merely warning rockets.”
“You’re right, of course, and it could be that the aliens in this system use them merely to warn off would-be visitors.”
“That’s why we have to check out the system, because we are protected and the freighters are not. If we permit our cargo ships to follow our course they will come under attack, and they won’t be able to withstand even these light missiles.”
Professor Tosk approached. Her face was serene inside the helmet she wore.
“Anything wrong, Professor?” Barlor demanded.
“Nothing, Captain! I just wish to report that I have completed my scientific survey of the planet. We have all the data we need, and when we return to the ship I shall begin my analysis. But I can tell you that there are rich desposits of minerals on this planet and if these missiles can be disarmed so our freighters can approach then we shall find rich pickings.”
“If the other planets in this system are inhabited then we have no right to come in here without their permission, but that is a point we shall deal with as soon as we return to the ship.” Barlor spoke crisply. “Let us prepare to take off. Computer control will take over at eighteen hundred hours. We shall go up into orbit and match speed and direction with Voyager.”
“What about these missiles?” Hammond demanded. “Supposing they fire upon us when we got up into orbit?”
“They didn’t fire at us on the way down,” Barlor reminded.
“So we’ll just have to risk it!” Hammond did not seem happy with the thought, but Barlor knew there was nothing they could do about the situation. He had no knowledge of how the missile sites operated, and it might be dangerous to interfere with such equipment.
They prepared for take-off, and thirty minutes before the appointed time they were strapped in their seats and waiting for the vital moment. Time seemed to drag, and Barlor glanced many times at his wrist-chrono. Then it was eighteen hundred hours, and on the dot the drive came to life and the craft lifted off the ground without effort. Barlor sighed with relief as they began a controlled ascent, and he mentally blessed Tewkes for his correctness in computing their flight programme.
But it was a worrying time for there was no way of knowing if those automated rocket sites might go into action, and the shuttle had no defences strong enough to protect it against such attack. But they gained height, following the course computed by Tewkes, and as time passed Barlor found himself beginning to relax slightly. Two hours later they were in orbit, picking up speed to match the distant parent ship, which would be swinging in on its ellipt
ical orbit to meet them.
Another hour passed and they were travelling at almost maximum speed. Barlor had all scanners switched on, and they watched the monitor screens for the first sight of Voyager. All the time he was alert for those tell-tale white dots which would mark the presence and approach of missiles. Then a large blip appeared on the rear scanner, and for a few tense seconds Barlor studied it, afraid that it was what he dreaded most. He checked the communicator and satisfied himself that it was in working order, then switched to receive, aware that Voyager, with its more powerful and sophisticated equipment, would have spotted them earlier. Moments later Lieutenant Elon’s voice sounded, calling them. It was the most welcome sound Barlor had ever heard.
“This is Captain Barlor in Shuttle Port Two,” he replied eagerly.
“Please stand by, Captain. I am handing you over to Lieutenant Tewkes for approach control and attach.”
The next moment Tewkes spoke steadily, and Barlor assured his subordinate that the shuttle was under computer control.
“Just stand by then,” Tewkes said. “We’ll be taking you aboard in fifteen minutes, Captain.”
Barlor watched the outline of Voyager take shape, and then the ship was creeping up beside them, black and apparently motionless, like a black whale coming out of the depths of an illimitable ocean. The Port Two airlock outer door was gaping, with light streaming out of it, and then the shuttle moved under computer control to match speed and direction with the parent craft. Minutes later they edged into the airlock and the outer door closed. It was a moment of great relief, and Barlor sighed heavily as he reported the shuttle secure. Then they were free to alight.
“Captain, we have some great news,” Denson reported. He was waiting in the corridor as the inner airlock door opened and Barlor emerged from the airlock.
“Give me a minute to get out of this suit,” Barlor said, although he was impatient to learn everything that had occurred on Voyager’s orbit of the planetary system. He divested himself of his helmet and took a deep breath. “That’s better after forty-eight hours cooped up in the shuttle,” he remarked. “Now what have you to report?”
Nightmare Planet Page 6
