An hour later Voyager came through on the communicator, and Barlor asked to speak to Linus Royden. There was a brief delay and then the Chief Engineer called.
“Linus,” Barlor said crisply. “What are the chances of fixing up some individual force-field units and underfoot cover?”
“That’s a tall order, Captain!” Royden said without hesitation. “Especially the underfoot condition. You would need special footwear.”
“We have the force-field down here around the shuttles operating underfoot,” Barlor cut in.
“That’s possible with such a large power source, but on an individual unit it might be dangerous.”
“Give me some odds,” Barlor said. “But before you do I’ll tell you that odds for us without underfoot protection are nil. I lost one of the security guards a short time ago because some of the aliens on the planet burrow up from the ground and take hold of a foot or a leg. Once they’ve made contact it seems we have no protection or defence against them. Jackson’s boot and foot were taken off clean as a whistle and he bled to death. So you can see that this is important, Linus. Will you try to do something for us? You can report in a couple of hours when you next pass overhead.”
“Certainly, Captain. I’ll do what I can. I’ll come up with some notion, you can bet, and it will work.”
“Thanks, Linus. I knew I could rely on you.” Barlor cut the line and leaned back in his seat, his face set in harsh lines, his lips compressed as he relived the tense moments of contact with the aliens. When he considered the massive kangaroo-like creatures he fought his imagination, for he knew they would have no chance of survival against such creatures. But what were the Imegt? He frowned as he let his thoughts rove over the broader aspects of all the events that had occurred since their landing. The Imegt were supposed to be the worst of all the alien creatures, and he could not imagine anything worse than the Eorils or the Yagges.
Doctor Simpson came into the shuttle and sat down in the co-pilot’s seat. His thin face was set in a grim expression, and Barlor studied the older man for several moments, awaiting Simpson’s report. Simpson was tense with thought, his mind obviously not with Barlor.
“Well, Doc?” Barlor finally prompted. “What can you tell me?”
“About Jackson?” Simpson jerked a little as he came back to his present situation. He sighed heavily as he shook his head. “Nothing! I can’t tell you a thing about the creature that attacked him.”
“I can give you a description of it,” Barlor retorted. “What I want to know is what chemical was the alien after?”
“I think you interrupted the alien’s attack before it could get what it was after. I haven’t run all the tests on Jackson yet — I would need to take the body up to Voyager and my Lab in order to do that — but I suspect that the missing foot was taken not merely for its meat. I believe some element of Jackson’s body is missing, and I’ve got to find out what it is before you can leave the safety of our position here”
“All right, take off in the other shuttle and rendezvous with the ship,” Barlor said. “You can take Jackson’s body to your Lab and make a complete rundown on his condition.”
“I’d rather wait until I have the remains of the other guard that was killed!” Simpson looked into Barlor’s face, his pale eyes filled with speculation. “I heard that it seemed as if the remains had been pounded almost to a jelly. Is that a fact?”
“I didn’t pay too much attention to the remains,” Barlor admitted. “I was too busy looking out for trouble while Franklin and Jackson gathered the body, or what was left of it. We had plenty of light, but didn’t know what to expect, but they put the remains into that canvas bag we took along. That should give you some idea of what was left. However, it’s impossible to say what was missing. We’ll pick up that bag as soon as daylight comes, so if you want to take that back to the ship with you you’ll have to wait a few hours.”
“I’ll do that, Captain, and I would suggest that you don’t leave this position until you have all the facts available at your disposal. This is a hostile planet and you will lose more men if you persist in pushing ahead with your exploration before gathering all the data that is possible to collect.”
“I’m afraid the time factor is against us, Doc,” Barlor said a trifle bitterly. “I have to push on in order to get to the Brontus Major constellation as soon as possible.”
“It doesn’t matter about the lives of our crew members then?”
“It does matter! But you know what the situation is back on Earth. They want the minerals we discover, and the fleets of freighters are already on their way along the star lanes in our wake. We can’t afford to make them hold up anywhere. We have to go on.”
“Then why did you bother to investigate this planet in the first place?”
“Because we have to ensure that it is safe for any of our following crews to land here should they have to.” Barlor sighed and shook his head. “At first light I’ll take out a patrol and bring back that canvas bag containing the guard’s remains. Then you can go up into orbit and return to your Lab. Your findings will have to be relayed to me as soon as you have them. In the meantime I will push on with my exploration, come what may. It’s the only method of getting this job done, Doc, no matter what you think. I’m not happy having to risk my crew like this, but don’t forget that I shall be right out there in front of them. It’s as important as that! If anything else goes wrong after this then it will be my life that gets terminated first. But we have some tricks in hand, and I intend employing them as soon as possible. Now you’d better try and get some sleep. You look all in. You’re overwrought and ill! Take a rest, Doc, and leave the future to look after itself. It’s the only way to get through this with a sound mind.”
“I’ve been giving you that particular piece of advice for as many years as I can remember; ever since you became my captain, in fact,” Simpson said with a wry smile dragging at his lips. “I was about to drag it out and push it your way, but it’s obvious to me that you don’t need it. You won’t feel the strain of all this until it is over, Captain.”
“If I’m still alive at the end of it,” Barlor reminded, nodding. “But you’re right, Doc. I’ve found it’s the only way to handle life amongst the stars.”
He leaned back in his seat as the doctor departed, and his thoughts drifted, but there was no emotion inside his mind. He was only concerned with duty, and it was difficult to maintain mental equilibrium with just bare thought processes without permitting emotion to cloud his judgement.
CHAPTER XI
Linus Royden himself descended to the planet by shuttle about an hour before dawn, and Barlor was waiting impatiently for the Chief Engineer, who brought with him additional force-field equipment and the individual defensive shields. Barlor operated the force-field equipment, cutting off the power that permitted Royden’s shuttle to land, and when he switched on the power again there was a series of small explosions surrounding them as the power killed off the aliens that had tried to sneak in during the lapse in the force-field. Barlor felt uneasy, because the darkness cloaked the attempts of the aliens, but he knew that while their power held out they had nothing to really fear.
“Captain, I don’t like the result of my work on these individual fields,” Royden said as soon as he entered the shuttle where Barlor was waiting. “They will need testing before I ’ll be satisfied.”
“I’ll test one for you as soon as it gets daylight,” Barlor retorted. “What is it you don’t like about them? Are they functional?”
“Yes. Oh yes! They’ll do the job you want, but if these aliens burrow under the ground and can cause you to stumble then the balance of the equipment will be thrown out, and that could prove disastrous.”
“In what way?” Barlor’s tones were clipped. He had
spent most of the night sitting in his control seat, fighting off his tiredness, steeling himself for what had to be done when daylight arrived.
“Your force-field could warp
and destroy you!” Royden’s dark eyes glittered as he looked into Barlor’s intent face. “I will test the other equipment along with you, Captain, but if you do fall then you’ll be in trouble.”
“I don’t know how these aliens react to us during the hours of daylight,” Barlor mused. “The Yagges are able to enter a man’s body, as they did to Sergeant Banham, but these burrowing aliens, the Eorils, seem to be like mad dogs. They are the ones we have to watch out for.”
“I read the reports on the alien life forms on the planet, and so far you haven’t mentioned what you stated to be the worst of them all,” Royden said.
“I know!” Barlor compressed his lips. “The Imegt! We haven’t come up against them yet! I wonder why they have been inactive?”
“Perhaps we’ll find out soon enough.” The Chief Engineer sat down and heaved a long sigh. “You’ll want me to stand by down here, huh, Captain?”
“You’d better remain on hand to check or adjust the individual shields,” Barlor agreed. He turned his head and peered through a viewport, noting that the dark sky was beginning to lighten towards the horizon. “The sun will be up in about an hour. Then we shan’t have to worry about the Megges. They won’t attack during daylight.”
“The Megges are the kangaroo-type aliens, aren’t they?” Royden demanded.
“That’s right. They warned me they are placid by day, but that they would hunt us after dark.”
“I read about the fact that these aliens devour us because of some chemical or mineral element in our make-up.” Royden nodded slowly as he mused. “I came across just such a situation when I was serving as Second Engineer aboard the old Explorer V. That would be twenty years ago. We were in the Mintaur Constellation. We landed on a planet in a system and were beset by nightmarish life forms.”
“What happened?” Barlor thrust his tiredness into the background and straightened in his seat.
“We got to hell out of it.” Royden grinned ruefully. “We lost some good men before we realized what was happening.”
“Which is what we’ve done here.” Barlor spoke harshly. “The trouble is, we can’t get to hell out of it. This planet must be made safe before we can go on.”
“I read your report,” Royden reminded gently. “I completely agree with you, Captain. We can’t leave danger in our wake. It has to be cleared up.”
“Those are my orders!” Barlor knew exactly what he had to do. His only problem was in how to accomplish his duty without too much loss of life. “They will be carried out before we depart.”
They sat chatting desultorily until dawn came, and then the communicator sounded, and when Barlor opened the line he heard Lieutenant Franklin’s calm voice.
“Captain, I request permission to land on the planet.”
“Permission granted, Lieutenant. Switch to remote control and we will monitor you in. I am about to start tests on the new equipment -that has come down from Voyager during the night. You will take command of the landing area while I am away from it.”
The shuttle landed, and Barlor went out to look around. The sun was just showing above the horizon, red and angry, and there was a chill breeze blowing across the plain. When he looked around into the clearing shadows, Barlor could see nothing amiss, and he was surprised when he saw a herd of Megges nearby, already peacefully grazing. But when he looked intently at the hard ground just outside the area of their force-field he noted dozens of small holes that warned him not to trust appearances.
Lieutenant Franklin emerged from his shuttle, followed closely by Professor Tosk.
“We’re wasting time, Captain!” the professor rapped. “I want one of those individual shields the Chief has brought down to you. Those aliens out there!” She turned and shielded her blue eyes as she gazed across the plain. “I want to make contact with them.”
“There are only two individual units, and they have to be tested before put into use,” Royden said before Barlor could speak.
“I’ll get the chance to use one?” the scientist demanded.
“You can take my place and test one of them if you like,” Royden retorted with a tight grin.
“We’re wasting time,” Barlor said heavily. “Let’s get the testing done. What kind of underfoot protection will these units provide, Linus?”
“They’ll kill anything within four feet; that is, to a depth of four feet,” came the grim reply. “Have you any idea how deeply these aliens can burrow?”
“None yet.” Barlor moved towards the shuttle that Royden had used. “Let’s look at the equipment, and prepare for testing.”
The Chief Engineer went into his shuttle and pulled a crate towards the hatch. Opening it, he lifted out a large metal pack that had a number of wide webbing straps attached. Grinning at Barlor, Royden handed over the pack.
“Get into that, Captain. Give him a hand, Lieutenant! Buckle it on securely. I have the upper part to clip on, and there are two projectors to be fitted beneath.”
Barlor slipped into the harness with the aid of Lieutenant Franklin’s steady hands. Barlor looked into Professor Tosk’s beautiful but impatient features, and suppressed the sigh that arose inside him.
“I’ll test the second one,” she volunteered as their gazes met.
“That’s my duty,” Royden cut in. He jumped out through the hatch and lifted down some shoulder harness which appeared to have sprouted a number of antennae projecting in different directions. Barlor felt constricted when the harness was fitted to him, but Royden was not finished, and he finally produced a waist harness with similar antennae projecting downwards and away from the body. Barlor clipped the waist harness around his middle and Royden connected all parts to the pack.
“Now this is what happens,” Royden said, turning to equip himself with the second unit. “When you switch on you project a force-field to a radius of three metres in all directions. This includes overhead and underfoot protection. While you remain on your feet and moving steadily there is no problem, but should you fall or move within range of any living being then you have a disaster on your hands.”
“I appreciate that,” Barlor said. “Let’s go and try them. If they work we’ll enter the woods and discover, if we can, what happened to the first landing party.”
“Do you want me to take a shuttle and fetch back that bag with the remains in it, Captain?” Franklin demanded.
“Not now. Stand by here, and maintain all-round defence.” There was a tough note in Barlor’s tones. “If these units work satisfactorily then we’ll have no more problems, but if they fail to accomplish what we need then you’ll be in command, Lieutenant, and all I can advise you to do in that event is get to hell off the planet.”
There was an expression of disapproval showing on Professor Tosk’s face. Barlor noticed it but made no comment.
“What about using our sidearms, Linus?” Barlor demanded. “Will that eventuality arise while the power is switched on in these units?”
“You shouldn’t need them,” came the confident reply. “The power available to the units should be sufficient to repel and destroy any life force present on this planet. But remember one important fact. You cannot approach anyone while your power is on. Forget that and you’ll burn up some unfortunate.”
“I won’t forget. Now are we ready to test?” Barlor was tense inside, and he forced himself to remain outwardly calm, although his pulses were racing and his heart was thumping painfully.
“Not yet!” Royden reached into the crate and produced what looked to Barlor like two pairs of over-shoes. He gave one pair to Barlor. “Slip them on over your boots, Captain. You’ll need their protection when your underfoot defences come into operation.” He continued talking while Barlor complied. “Now this is how you should operate. Ensure that you are clear of all obstructions before switching on. That small control panel under your left shoulder is simple to use, but the green switch is for starting the flow of power and the red one for cutting it off. You can dispense with the underfoot protection
or the overhead protection merely by pulling the plug either under the end of the pack or on top. That’s all there is to it. If the Lieutenant will let us get outside the force-field we’ll start testing.”
“Do you have a communicator with you, Linus?” Barlor asked. “We’ll need to talk to each other.”
“I’ve got one,” the Chief said, nodding.
“Lieutenant.” Barlor addressed Franklin. “Everyone inside the force-field is to remain inside one or another of the shuttles. On no account will anyone remain outside. You will maintain all-round observation while the Chief and I are outside the defensive area, and if we find any kind of trouble then we shall have to make our own efforts to overcome our problems. There will be no rescue attempts. Is that clearly understood?”
“Yes, sir!” Franklin looked steadily into Barlor’s eyes for a moment. “I’ll take care of the landing area, Captain.”
“Now cut the force-field so we can leave.” Barlor took a few experimental steps. The equipment was not unduly weighty. He found that it was perfectly balanced, but he felt like some kind of a decorated tree as he moved. When he looked at Royden he saw that the Chief appeared to be enjoying himself.
All the shuttles were sealed, and Barlor was aware that faces peered from some of the viewports. He got the signal from Franklin that the force-field had been cut and stepped out smartly, moving away from the area. He watched the ground carefully, looking for holes in the hard surface. Using his communicator, he spoke to Royden, who was following at a safe distance.
“Linus, we were out here yesterday during daylight and were perfectly safe. The danger comes inside the woods over there. I plan to enter the woods while you remain outside, and you can observe the effects of any attacks made upon me.”
“I’d rather take the risks while you watch me, Captain,” came the immediate reply.
“Why does everyone in the crew figure that I’m the most vital member of the ship?” Barlor demanded. “I’m the one who is going to risk his neck, Linus. You follow me and watch carefully.”
Nightmare Planet Page 13
