“It was decided not to do that because it might have proved awkward for the landing party to have a time limit set upon their activities,” Barlor said. “I’m not certain I want to be limited in that way either. But we can have it so and I can always over-ride the computer if the necessity arises.”
“That’s what I was thinking!” Tewkes nodded slowly. “You have thirty minutes before detach now, Captain. If I were you I’d start getting the landing party loaded.”
“I need to give orders to the duty officer, then I’m ready,” Barlor retorted. He turned away and seated himself at his control console, then called for the duty officer.
Lieutenant Hassel came into the control room, his face grim, for obviously he had heard the rumour circulating the ship that the landing party under Denson had been lost, but he saluted Barlor and stood intently before him.
“I’m taking the next landing party down to the planet, and we detach in a matter of thirty minutes,” Barlor said. “Until my return you will have command of the ship, Lieutenant.”
“Yes, Captain!” Hassell nodded emphatically. He was tall and athletically built, with blond hair and grey eyes. Barlor knew him as a competent officer, and Hassel had once saved Barlor’s life in a tight spot on another planet. “What are your orders, sir?”
“If I don’t return then you must use your own judgement,” Barlor said tightly. “I shall make contact with the ship when it next passes over the landing area. If you don’t get a call from the shuttle then you can safely assume that something very serious is wrong, and you will have to make your own arrangements for checking us out. You can be sure that I shall make no mistakes down there, and only total destruction of the shuttle will prevent me making contact at the prearranged time.”
“Very well, Captain. I’ll take care of the ship. Good luck!” Hassel spoke quietly, his tones not betraying any emotion, but he was apprehensive, Barlor could tell, and the knowledge did not enhance his own attitude as he went from the control room and made his way to the shuttle station.
There was a crowd of personnel waiting in the corridor, and Barlor checked them over with Lieutenant Franklin. Satisfied that each of them had the necessary equipment for life support under difficult conditions, Barlor spoke to Franklin while they awaited the moment for entry into the airlock.
“Lieutenant, you will be in complete command of our security down on the planet,” he said. “You must use your own initiative in everything. We are going to land as close as possible to the other shuttle that descended and, depending upon what we find, we shall carry out the survey that must be made.”
Franklin nodded. A green light gleamed above the inner airlock door. Barlor opened it and they entered the airlock and passed into the shuttle. There were twelve security guards, including Lieutenant Franklin, Professor Tosk and two assistants, and the engine artificer with his equipment. The shuttle was loaded with equipment, and Barlor checked it with the artificer. Satisfied that they had everything that might be required, Barlor sealed the hatch and reported to the control room.
“This is the captain. We are sealed in the shuttle and awaiting countdown to detach. We are in your hands now.”
“Stand by for detach in fifteen minutes,” Tewkes replied. “Check out your list please, Captain.”
Barlor ran through the checklist and satisfied himself that the craft was fully operational. He adjusted the chrono on the bulkhead and tested the circuits in rotation. The minutes passed slowly, in silence, and when he glanced around at the assembled passengers there was nothing but seriousness in all their features.
“We can expect a hot climate on this planet, Professor, according to your report,” Barlor said more for the want of conversation than to learn facts. He had perused the reports very carefully and stored all relevant information in the back of his mind.
“It won’t be cold down there during daylight,” Professor
Tosk replied in precise tones. “But if we are out in the open after the sun goes down we’ll find the temperature drops below freezing. One good thing is that we shan’t need space suits.”
“Yes, I’ve compared the readings and data on this planet with the data of Earth, and they have a similar composition. We should be at home down there.” Barlor tried to keep his tones light although he was desperately worried about Denson and the other landing party.
“Aliens permitting,” Professor Tosk said in her feminine tones, and the ghost of a chuckle echoed through the cabin.
“Five minutes to detach, Captain,” Tewkes reported over the speaker.
“We are standing by with all circuits animated and control delegated to the computer,” Barlor responded crisply.
“I’ll warn you at one-minute intervals until the final minute, then make a second by second countdown,” Tewkes said. “Good luck, Captain.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant. We’ll be in touch!” Barlor compressed his lips as he glanced around, and he spent the final moments in rechecking everything in sight.
Tewkes used unemotional tones as he began the final one-minute countdown, and Barlor glanced through the viewport on his right, watching for signs of activity. The outer airlock door suddenly slid open and again he felt the intense loneliness of their position in Space. He drew a long breath and held it for some moments to try and stifle his inexplicable nervousness, and then the shuttle was sliding out of the station to hang suspended at the side of the ship. The next instant they detached, and Barlor, watching closely, caught a faint glimpse of the larger ship speeding on its trackless orbit. They were free and already following descent orders. They were plunging into the unknown, and Barlor forced himself to remain steady and outwardly calm, although he could not prevent his nervousness from sending strange flutterings through his chest and stomach.
There was no sign of the planet, and when he switched on the small scanners he could see nothing but velvet blackness that was studded with distant diamond points of brilliance. They were on the dark side of the planet and now they had reached the point of no return. No matter what lay ahead of them they had to go down to the surface of the planet and make physical contact. Somewhere down there a shuttle had already landed and been engulfed by the unknown. This was not the first time Barlor had been faced with this particular problem, but now his hunches were vibrating again, warning him of trouble, and that sixth sense which developed in the minds of most spacemen could not be ignored.
They had trouble, possibly danger, awaiting them, and they descended towards it with no outward show of fear. This was the essence of the challenge of Space and they were all committed by profession to facing up to it…
CHAPTER VII
Barlor glimpsed a lightening of the forward scanner screen just above his head and watched intently as the darkness gave way and the outline of the sunlit hemisphere of the planet took shape. He saw the pale blue of an ocean, the darker browns and greens of a continent, and a great sigh escaped him as he felt the challenge of the unknown begin to stir his blood. The shuttle descended steadily, remaining in the day-time of the planet, and the computed coordinates were affecting the speed and direction of the craft. They would be conveyed directly to the spot where the shuttle commanded by Denson had landed, and when they were in visual range Barlor could take manual control and land the ship himself.
“This planet is very similar to Earth, Captain,” Professor Tosk remarked, and Barlor glanced around to find the attractive woman at his shoulder. She was staring in a kind of rapture at the visi-screen.
“And it is inhabited,” Barlor retorted. “We shall take the utmost precautions when we do land.”
“If the aliens are hostile why haven’t they fired upon us?” Lieutenant Franklin demanded.
“Perhaps they know that they will have a better opportunity of capturing us when we are on the ground,” Barlor commented. “But we have the deflector shields up, and as soon as we touch down I want the force-field erected about us.”
The engine-room artificer was still che
cking his equipment, and he looked up at Barlor, who had turned to regard him.
“I can erect the force-field without trouble, Captain, and without leaving the ship,” the man reported. “The only problem is, we shall have to lower the shuttle’s shields.”
“And that is where we could find trouble,” Barlor said slowly. “But we’ll face that particular situation when we come to it. Now let us remain quiet and alert. Keep an allround observation from the ports as we go in. I want to know immediately there is any sign of life.”
The shuttle descended rapidly, and hovered at two thousand feet. Barlor operated the telescope, aware that their point of hover should be directly over the first shuttle. There was little cloud cover in the area, and it took him only a few seconds to spot Denson’s shuttle on the ground.
“I can see the shuttle!” he said, and there was a faint tremor in his tones. “It’s in one piece and does not appear to be damaged. Professor, use your equipment and check for signs of life.”
Professor Tosk had already moved back to her rear seat, and when Barlor turned to glance at her he saw she was kneeling on the seat, holding a piece of equipment that looked like a pair of binoculars with a square black box attached. There was tense silence in the cabin while they awaited her verdict.
“There is no life form present inside the shuttle itself,” she reported eventually. “I am getting impressions of life forms that must be alien. There is life movement in the immediate landing area, but it is violent and erratic. I suspect there must be animal life here.”
“Can you differentiate between the various life forms?” Barlor demanded.
“Quite easily. I do not locate any humanoid forms at all.”
The shuttle began to descend again. It was still under computer control. Barlor knew it would hover once more at a height of three hundred feet, and he began to tense up inside as he stared at the screen, which was relaying a picture of the landing area through the fixed camera in the underside of the shuttle. He checked all circuits, especially the power inputs, and was satisfied that the shields were working at full strength.
At three hundred feet the shuttle hovered once more, and Barlor knew they were a sitting target for any alien action that might come. The craft was silver, would glitter in the bright sunlight, and he wondered why the aliens were not attacking. They had not fired missiles at the first shuttle, now lying beneath them and obviously undamaged, and yet missiles had been fired at Voyager before she entered the planetary system.
“I have better readings of animation now, Captain,” Professor Tosk reported, and there was a trace of excitement in her usually calm, clinical tones. “There is insect life, animal life, and quite obviously bird life present in great numbers.”
“Flesh and fowl,” Barlor retorted, nodding. “That much we do know. But what of the dominant animal of the planet. What form does it take?”
“You’re thinking in terms of Man,” Mahla Tosk said lightly. “Perhaps we have something totally different here.”
“Whatever form they take, they made missiles, so they are sufficiently advanced to have a technology, and it looked very sophisticated to me, judging by what I saw on the outer planet.” Barlor spoke in heavy tones. “I think we’ll drop down to land beside Denson’s shuttle Stand by. If there is any sign of hostility when we touch the ground then I shall withdraw immediately. Franklin, you and your men keep watch from the view ports. I want reports on everything that moves around us when we land.”
He took over manual control of the ship and piloted it down through the sunlit air. They landed only a few metres from the silent, apparently abandoned shuttle that had conveyed the first landing party to the planet, and Barlor could see that the hatch was open on Denson’s craft. At the moment of contact he cut all power except the input to the deflector shields, and they sat staring at Denson’s shuttle.
“It doesn’t look damaged at all,” Franklin finally observed.
“That doesn’t mean a thing!” Barlor switched on a scanner and operated it through three hundred and sixty-five degrees. “I can see movements in the distance, but cannot make out figures,” he reported. “Use your equipment, Professor. Perhaps Denson and the landing party are returning to the ship to make their report. There could be a number of reasons why they failed to make contact with us as arranged.”
“But no reason why the shuttle should be left unguarded, Captain,” Lieutenant Franklin cut in gravely. “I know Major Hammond better than most, and he would certainly have left at least one guard, and possibly two, in the shuttle.”
“I agree with you,” Barlor said heavily. “Professor, are those figures out there approaching us?”
“They are moving around apparently aimlessly,” came the steady reply. “I believe they are animals and they are following their normal feeding patterns. They are showing no interest in our presence. I cannot make out forms yet. There is considerable vegetation over there. I suggest we erect a force-field around both shuttles so that we can investigate the other.”
“I’ll consider our next actions,” Barlor said thinly, and smiled tightly at the note in his tones. He looked at the artificer. “Can you arrange to cover both craft with your force-field?”
“Quite easily, sir.”
“Then do so, and tell me when you want our shields lowered. But before we go any further with this, will your force-field be as effective as the shuttle’s shields?”
“Even more powerful, Captain. We’ll be safer behind my force-field.”
They sat in silence while the artificer completed his preparations. When he intimated that he was ready Barlor drew a sharp breath. He was afraid that this was the moment when Denson’s ship had run into trouble. The instant the deflector shields were lowered they would be vulnerable to any kind of attack, and it was possible that intelligent aliens were watching from concealed positions and could detect the moment when the ship’s defences were lowered. But they could not delay longer, and Barlor glanced at the artificer, who was watching him.
“Start counting to ten,” Barlor instructed. “Do it aloud. When you reach ten switch on your force-field. I’ll cut the deflector shields at around nine of your count.”
The man began counting steadily, and Barlor reached out for the lever that operated the power to their defences. He found himself holding his breath towards the end of the count, and as the man reached nine he depressed the lever. Almost instantly, as the ship’s defences cut out, the force-field came on. Barlor was turning to look at the artificer as the man spoke.
“Force-field in operation, Captain. It is enveloping both ships like an umbrella. You are at liberty to move around both ships to a distance of ten metres. But don’t make the mistake of walking into the barrier. It will fry you.”
“Nobody is leaving the ship until we’ve checked out Denson’s shuttle. I’ll take a guard, that’s all.” Barlor looked at Franklin, who was showing eagerness. “You’ll remain in command inside this shuttle, Lieutenant. I want two men always on duty in here. One will be the artificer, because he’ll have to operate the force-field, and I want one of your guards seated in the control seat ready to use the communicator.”
“Sergeant Banham will accompany you, Captain,” Franklin replied.
Banham was a tall, heavy man with black hair and brown eyes, and Barlor knew him well. He nodded.
“Sergeant Banham is all right by me,” he said. “All right, Sergeant, let’s go check out that other shuttle. Lieutenant, and you, Professor, keep a watch on our surroundings. I want to know immediately if there’s any movement out there beyond our forcefield.”
“We’ll be on our toes, Captain,” Professor Tosk promised.
Barlor nodded, taking out his belt communicator and testing it. He called the shuttle’s communicator and the guard who had assumed his seat there flipped the switch and spoke.
“Fine!” Barlor nodded. He moved around the shuttle and opened the hatch, sliding it back and stepping out to the short, lush grass that was gr
owing underfoot. Sergeant Banham followed him, carrying a laser projector, and Barlor was happy with the sergeant at his back.
Crossing the few feet to the other shuttle, Barlor paused by the hatch and looked inside. The craft was deserted, but he did not attempt to enter immediately. He spoke to Sergeant Banham.
“It’s strange that no one was left in command,” he mused. “Denson would have put a man on communicator watch.”
“And he would have been inside the craft with the deflector shields up,” Banham commented. “Our men are too well trained to take any unnecessary chances, Captain.”
“Unless he saw something that caused him to lower the shields and leave the craft!” Barlor’s dark gaze narrowed, and he felt a strange thickening in his-throat as he considered.
“You think a party left the craft and ran into some kind of trouble, sir?” Banham glanced around, tightening his grip upon the laser. He dropped into a defensive crouch, although he could not use the weapon while they were surrounded by the force-field.
“That’s possible. In fact I think it is the only explanation for such reckless behaviour! The thing is, what could have happened to bring it about?”
“The rest of the landing party being killed, or attacked?” Banham sounded uncertain now.
Barlor looked around slowly, peering into the purpled distance. There was no obvious sign of the force-field around them, but he could feel a slight tingling in the bright air which warned of its presence. He could scarcely believe that they were not standing upon Earth, for the scenery was similar. There were trees and other vegetation, and in the distance mountains reared up to the pale blue sky.
“I think we’ll wait until the ship comes up over the horizon again and ask for some transport to be sent down,” Barlor mused. “If we’re to carry out a search for Denson’s party then we’re not going to walk. It would take too long. In the meantime you keep your eyes open out here, Sergeant. I’m going into the shuttle to look around. Perhaps some kind of a message was left.”
Nightmare Planet Page 8
