Nightmare Planet

by Donald S. Rowland

  “When is Voyager due over the horizon, Lieutenant?” he demanded.

  Franklin glanced at his wrist chrono, his eyes narrowed, his intuition telling him that something was wrong.

  “In about fifty minutes, Captain,” he said.

  “We’ve got to get up into orbit as soon as possible.” Barlor peered through the viewport to his right and saw the pilot in his seat in the other shuttle. He called the man, watching Protus and his technicians getting into the shuttle as he awaited a reply. The pilot’s voice came through.

  “Yes, Captain?”

  “As soon as you’re ready we’ll lift off and return to

  orbit,” Barlor said. “We have less than an hour to make contact with Voyager. As soon as Voyager is within contact range I shall order her to prepare to depart from orbit, and if we fail to get aboard her before she blasts out of orbit then we shall be left behind. That is all. Get out of here.”

  He cut the communication and switched on. Before he could feed power to the circuits Professor Tosk was calling urgently.

  “Captain, my sensors report that the alien life-force has closed in about us until it is almost touching the perimeter of our defensive shields. I think we have trouble on our hands. I don’t think we shall get out of here without a fight”

  “Lieutenant!” Barlor spoke without looking around. “Get the shuttle’s weapons ready for action. Cut in the computer control and feed in the data from the professor’s sensors. Attack that alien life-force with everything we have.”

  He activated the firing circuits, tensed for reaction, and a frown came to his forehead when nothing happened. He quickly checked his circuits, discovering there were no signs of malfunction, and tried again, with the same result. Nothing happened. At that moment the communicator blipped and he opened the line automatically, to hear the voice of the pilot in the other shuttle.

  “Captain, I cannot get ignition,” the pilot reported.

  “I’m having the same trouble,” Barlor retorted. “Stand by. Activate your weapons and engage the alien life-force that is hemming us in.”

  “My sensors give no indication of any alien presence, Captain,” the pilot replied.

  “We have special equipment aboard,” Barlor said. “Stand by and I will feed you co-ordinates. Fire when you are ready. Take precautions against directing your fire in our direction.”

  Franklin called a string of co-ordinates and Barlor passed them on, aware that time was passing. Precious minutes were slipping by. He mentally cursed Professor Tosk for her interference with the alien equipment, but he shrugged mentally, forcing himself to forget everything but the problems facing him.

  “We’re ready to open fire, Captain,” Franklin said eventually.

  “Get to work then,” Barlor snapped. “I want to get airborne.”

  The deadly violet Ilor ray projector in the upper turret began to stab through the sunlight, and Barlor twisted in his seat and looked back to where Professor Tosk was seated at the rear of the cabin. The shuttle was filled with a crackling sound, and Barlor could feel his flesh tingling in the electrified atmosphere.

  “Any positive result, Professor?” he demanded.

  “The alien life-force is moving back out of range, Captain,” came the steady reply. “Make your effort to lift off now, before it can regroup.”

  Barlor hit the controls, opening circuits and powering them. The shuttle zoomed up off the roof like a rocket, and he almost lost control. He saw that they sideslipped across the second shuttle, and they had barely cleared the craft before it was leaping into the sky. They missed one another by scant inches, and Barlor could feel sweat trickling down his face as he adjusted the pressure inside the ship. They gained height at a tremendous rate, straining all circuits to their limit of operation. The other shuttle was showing on a small observation screen, and Barlor was relieved to see that it remained on station with him. The pilot had switched on a tractor ray to hold the two ships together in close proximity.

  “What is your report on the alien life-form?” Barlor rapped. They were passing upwards through the scant clouds, reaching for the thinner atmosphere and orbital space beyond.

  “We are being pursued, Captain,” Professor Tosk

  replied, and her tones were grim. “You’d better use all the firepower you possess to keep it at bay until we can slip into orbit.”

  “We’re using everything that can be brought to bear, Captain,” Franklin reported. “The other shuttle is not firing now. They cannot locate the alien force. If we can direct their fire onto the target we’ll have a chance of overpowering it. When our concerted fire hit the alien before we took off we had the upper hand, but since only our weapons maintained fire the alien force is returning in strength.”

  “Use your communicator to give co-ordinates to the other shuttle in a continuous stream,” Barlor said. “The last thing we want to do is take this alien life force up into orbit with us. If it is around us when we sight Voyager then we shall not be able to board the ship.”

  There was silence at his words, and Barlor thinned his lips as he glanced at the time. Minutes were passing too quickly. They had to reach a certain height and speed in order to be picked up by Voyager, and if they missed at the first attempt they would have to await the next orbit two hours later. Barlor tightened his lips as he began to use the computer, trying to calculate speed and position for an intercept, and in the back of his mind was the grim knowledge that each passing moment took with it a proportion of their chances of getting clear.

  The cataclysm that would erupt when this planet was destroyed would engulf the entire planetary system, and Barlor knew that they had to be many millions of miles away from the system before the explosion. Even now, he thought tensely, it might be too late for Voyager to escape what was to happen. When the planet was disintegrated the immediate effects would react against the other three planets and the sun, and Barlor wanted to be well on his way to Brontus before the big bang.

  “We’re holding off the alien life force now, Captain,”

  Franklin reported, and Barlor glanced around to see relief shining on the Lieutenant’s face. “Our combined power is succeeding.”

  “Good. Maintain your fire.” Barlor called the other shuttle and repeated the order, then gave a set of coordinates covering direction and velocity. “It’s going to be a tight thing,” he said harshly, “but we have to make it. If we fail to rendezvous with Voyager on this orbit I shall order her out of the area at maximum velocity.”

  “That means we’ll be destroyed with this planetary system, Captain,” Franklin said at his back.

  “Exactly!” Barlor set his teeth and gave his whole attention to the controls. “We’ve got a lot of space to cover.”

  The reports which were given to him during the next thirty minutes were monotonous but deadly. The alien life force was following them up into orbit like an invisible cloud, and Barlor realized that should they be in position for a rendezvous with Voyager they would not be able to lower their shields in order to board the parent craft, and Voyager would not dare lower her deflectors to take them in. Barlor knew what would happen to the entire crew of the ship if that alien force once got aboard. But he kept his doubts and fears to himself, forcing his mind to concentrate upon getting into orbit on a matching speed and direction with Voyager. Their weapons were firing intermittently now, only operating when the alien life-force moved in too close. Power was being expended at a tremendous and alarming rate, and Barlor began to fear that Voyager would arrive too late to be of any use.

  But both ships were at the required height in orbit, and travelling at the speed necessary to permit Voyager to come creeping up on them from astern. Barlor saw the parent ship on a screen and began calling urgently. There was an immediate reply from Communications, and the next instant Lieutenant Tewkes began speaking.

  “We have both shuttles on our screens, Captain, and we are closing as per schedule. Remain on your present course and velocity. You are expe
cted to attach in thirty minutes.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant,” Barlor replied, gritting his teeth against the various emotions that tried to break loose inside his chest. He quickly explained the situation.

  “We have that alien life-force on our sensors, Captain,” came the reply. “But we cannot fire upon it for fear of destroying your shuttles.”

  “Pass orders instructing the ship to prepare to blast out of orbit,” Barlor rapped. He cut the line to the ship and looked at Professor Tosk. “What can you tell me about that alien life-force? Is it around both shuttles?”

  Professor Tosk twiddled with the knobs on her control panel, her face taut with concentration.

  “No, Captain, it appears to me that our shuttle is attracting all the matter that followed us up from the planet. My guess is that it is concentrating upon the shuttles one at a time because it is not powerful enough to destroy both ships simultaneously, and it has selected us for its first victim.”

  Barlor called the shuttle and told its pilot to move into the parent ship. The manoeuvre called for expert ship handling, and Barlor called Voyager and explained what was happening.

  “We’ll open a narrow lane in our forcefield to permit you to enter,” came the reply from Voyager, “but we will have to forfeit shuttle and crew if that alien life-force attempts to enter with you.”

  “I’m going to draw off the alien while you’re taking the other shuttle inboard,” Barlor said. He adjusted the controls and power surged into the drive. “What I want you to do when you have the shuttle with you is load it with all the organic phosphorus you can lay your hands on. Then send the shuttle out by remote control into the centre of the alien life-force. I think it is the phosphorus in our bodies that is attracting the force, and if that is the case then the other shuttle could claim the attention of the aliens while we are coming aboard. If this fails — and we’ll only have one opportunity to try it — then Voyager must blast out of orbit and leave us behind. In four hours from now there will be an explosion back there on the planet which will be powerful enough to destroy this whole planetary system.”

  There was no reply from the ship, and Barlor watched the other shuttle moving in towards Voyager. Professor Tosk kept reporting on the alien life-force, and Barlor was satisfied that the other shuttle was in the clear. Ten minutes later he guessed the shuttle had passed through Voyager's defensive shields, and minutes after that it was being taken aboard the larger vessel.

  Barlor had to juggle with his controls to remain ahead of Voyager and yet not go speeding off into the black void and certain death. Franklin continued to fire into the encroaching alien life-force, but reported that their firepower was not sufficient to keep the alien at bay. Then their force-field began crackling, and Barlor knew they were under attack at last.

  Professor Tosk reported that the alien life-force was destroying itself in an attempt to saturate their defences, and for long minutes the struggle went on while Voyager slowly crept closer to them.

  “Captain, you’ll have to cease firing,” Linus Royden called suddenly. “You’re going to need all the power we can muster to be diverted into our shields.”

  Barlor issued the necessary order to Franklin, and silence enveloped the ship. The screens showed nothing of the deadly life-force surrounding them, and Barlor wondered at it, aware that it was the essence of life itself, and it was a destructive force that had to kill in order to live.

  “The shuttle is being detached from Voyager,” Captain! “There was a tremor in Franklin’s tones as he reported the sighting.

  Barlor looked at the screen and saw the shuttle moving steadily away from the larger ship. It passed through the invisible screens surrounding Voyager and came speeding towards Barlor’s shuttle, passing within a few hundred metres. It flashed by, glinting in the light coming from the sun, and it was headed towards the planet from which it had lifted some two hours before.

  “Captain!” For the first time Professor Tosk’s voice betrayed her feelings. “My sensors report the alien life-force departing from us. It is pursuing that decoy shuttle.”

  Barlor worked the controls, cutting their speed, then accelerating in order to match velocity with Voyager.

  “Keep giving me information,” he snapped, concentrating upon his skilled handling.

  “We are no longer surrounded by the alien. We are at liberty to attach to the ship!” Professor Tosk could not prevent a tremor sounding in her tones.

  “Captain, we are opening the force-field for you to come alongside,” Voyager reported. “You are now passing along the entry lane in our shields.”

  “Captain, that alien life-force is turning back. It is coming for us!” Panic sounded in Professor Tosk’s tones.

  “Can we get to the ship before it reaches us?” Barlor demanded. “Voyager, have you got that alien life-force on your sensors?”

  “Yes, Captain! It is coming back fast!”

  “If there is any danger of it penetrating the shields then close the lane, even if it means destroying us!” Barlor rapped.

  “Will do, Captain, if it is necessary,” came the tense reply.

  Barlor watched the side of the ship looming up on their starboard. There was silence now in the shuttle, and Barlor fancied he could hear the nervous breathing of his fellow crewmembers. He could feel the heavy thudding of his heart as they awaited the inevitable end. They had drawn the alien life-force off sufficiently to enable them to make a move for the safety of the ship, but the alien intelligence had reacted too quickly for them. They could not make it.

  But the open outer airlock awaiting the shuttle came closer, and then they were being drawn into the ship. As the outer airlock door began to close there was a terrific explosion out in the darkness surrounding the ship, and Barlor knew the alien life-force had made contact with the shields.

  The ship shuddered violently, and Barlor recognised the tell-tale shivers through its vast frame that indicated its most powerful weapons were operating. He waited for the inner airlock door to open and then started running for the control room. When he glanced back over his shoulder he saw Linus Royden disappearing in the direction of the engine room elevator.

  Breathless and weary, Barlor assumed control of the ship, and in a matter of minutes the control computer was receiving data for blasting out of orbit. Barlor saw the alien life force on the sensors, appearing like a milky cloud against the blackness of the screen. It was moving away from the ship again, making for the tiny dot of light that was the decoy shuttle speeding down towards the surface of the planet.

  Minutes later the ship was secured for leaving orbit, and Barlor strapped himself at his console and awaited the order. When it came the ship heeled violently and went streaking away, its velocity increasing tremendously, sending all registers crazy with the surges of power. The stern viewer became the focus point of all eyes as the minutes passed, and Barlor called for an estimate of their chances of survival. Royden called from the engine room to query the demand for power, and Barlor instructed the Chief Engineer to push the ship to its limits and beyond. They sped on through the blackness, leaving behind the planet and its nearby lifeless neighbours.

  Almost four hours later they were still speeding away from the nightmarish planetary system, and Barlor was afraid that they had not put sufficient distance between themselves and the inevitable end. He had remained strapped in his seat, his gaze fixed upon the rear scanner screen. Now he could see the star and its four planets bunched together in the centre of the screen, where four short hours before the single planet which they had visited had occupied the entire screen. In a few more minutes he knew the planets themselves would become invisible over the distance, and even as the thought crossed his mind he saw a bright flash that winked and flared, followed instantly by a swift succession of other brilliant flashes. He gripped the arms of his seat and watched the screen with a fatal fascination, knowing what would come, bracing himself for it. The shock waves of a whole planetary system disintegrati
ng would travel much faster than the ship.

  Minutes later there was a faint shudder, a kind of ripple which sped through the frame of the ship from the stern, and dials on the panels recorded the disturbance. Barlor sighed and relaxed, for there was no danger. It had been averted. He drew a sharp breath as a sigh of relief seemed to spread through the control room.

  “Set course for the Brontus Constellation,” he ordered the astrogator, and Tewkes looked up with a smile. “As fast as you can, Lieutenant. We’ve lost a lot of time, and there is a schedule to maintain.”

  He leaned back in his seat and tried to relax, and when he looked at the rear view scanner there was nothing to mar the even black texture of the inanimate screen. The mysterious planetary system was gone with its alien life forms, and when the freighters passed through this area there would be nothing to cause them trouble. Barlor grimaced as he thought of the men who had died back there. But it had all been part of their duty, and he knew that next time he might be one of those unfortunates who would not survive.

  This was Man’s heritage. The past stretched out behind

  the ship and the present time was the only link with what lay ahead in the future. And it was a future beyond Barlor’s wildest imagining…

  If you enjoyed Nightmare Planet, we would be really grateful if you could leave a review on the Amazon page and Goodreads.

  You may also enjoy Despot in Space by Donald S. Rowland.

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