“So, where are the fish?” asked Dennis Pearson.
“That is what is so odd,” continued Jackson. “Even if there are people on Brisula who are fishing in the lake, the lake would not be devoid of all fish.”
Andrews tapped his fingers on the table pondering the information he had just been presented with. What did this mean? How could this help locate the Captain? “OK,” he said to his crew members. They were all staring at him, waiting for him to say something. “Thank you Officer Greene. That is an excellent observation. But what does it mean?.” He looked at each member of the group. “Paul, what are your thoughts?”
“Officer Greene has a valid point. If the Brisulans went to the trouble of creating a lake, it would seem only logical that the purpose was for fishing,” responded Dr. Loring. “I would also assume that the fish were meant to be a source of food.”
“Is the lake dead?” asked Pearson.
“No,” answered Jackson Greene. “The lake is very much viable.”
“So, the lake is alive, but there are no fish,” said Pearson. “How about other animals like frogs or turtles?”
“According to Commander Andrews’ report there was no evidence of the various animals likely to be found in an aquatic ecosystem,” answered Jackson.
“What possible explanation can there be for this phenomenon?” questioned Andrews, to no one in particular.
“Sir, if I may answer your question?” said Jackson. “The landing party only examined the north side of the lake. My hunch is that the fish are somehow being trapped in one area of the lake.”
“If that is true, then the next logical step would be to send some divers down to Brisula to explore the lake,” said Dave Andrews. “But how can we assure their safety? I will not allow any further crew members to be captured and probably turned into slaves.”
“Dave,” spoke up Dennis Pearson. “We may just have to take a chance.”
“Perhaps,” said Dave shaking his head, “but I am not yet ready to take that chance.”
Dennis Pearson leaned his back against the Conveyor console. He was sitting crossed legged on the floor. Evening was slowly passing into night. That’s another wasted day, he thought. Dave Andrews is either a complete idiot or a coward. They were making no progress. After he had said that Andrews should send down a diving team, Dave had simply shook his head. Instead he gave out assignments and said they would all meet again at 2400 hours. And what crazy assignments they were. Amanda Rugan and Paul were ordered to re-examine the fake bodies looking for clues. Clues to what he didn’t know. Jackson Greene was told to study all the initial reports about the planet’s surface. Again it was hoped that Jackson would locate some hidden clues. Dennis was assigned to check over the ship’s engines and the Conveyor system. Maybe some clues were lurking there. Andrews himself would study the ship’s computers for the umpteenth time.
As Dennis sat on the floor he thought back to the earlier discussions about a spy on board. Andrews admitted that he did not think that Diane was the spy. So, if she is not the spy then who is? The spy obviously is in hiding. Does the spy know where the Captain has been taken? Dennis was sure that if they could figure out who the spy was, they would obtain all the clues they needed to find Josh and the others. Why, he wondered, have they stopped concentrating on unearthing the traitor among them? Dennis was convinced that this was what they should be focusing on. But how could he get Andrews to listen to him?
It was quiet on the Bridge. The Gladiator had been maintaining its position above Brisula for the past eight days. Ensign Mohammad Saad was at the helm. Lieutenant Junior Grade Bonnie Shea, seated next to him, was yawning. Her assignment was to be on alert for any possible movement on the planet’s surface. There, of course, had been nothing stirring since the Captain’s body was brought aboard the ship.
Lieutenant Diane Pearson and Ensign Benjamin Rubin had spent the afternoon and early evening in the Library reviewing Jackson Greene’s notes and planning out their own strategy. Now they were on the Bridge with their heads together listening to the loudspeaker interceptions. They had been listening to them repeatedly for the past three hours hoping to hear something in the background that might give them a clue as to the location of the PA system or to the identity of the person speaking. Ensign Rubin used the communications systems speech analysis program to analyze the transmissions. First he slowed down the pitch, and then he sped it up. This was followed by increasing the volume then decreasing the speed. Next they listened to the voice one syllable at a time. Diane entered snippets of the voice into UGC’s Voice Database. The preliminary search came up empty. Diane entered some larger voice samples and submitted a request for a more advanced search.
“I’m glad you are back to work,” said Ben while they were paused waiting for the results from the Voice Database. “I wanted to run something by you. I had a bit of trouble getting into the message center on your station’s computer.”
“What kind of trouble?” she asked.
“Well, every time I tried to send a document, I got a message saying there was an open screen that needed to be closed. But nothing was opened that I could see,” Ben answered.
“It’s possible that one of us left a message screen open and it is masked or embedded into another program. Let’s check it out.”
Diane brought up several diagnostic programs and ran tests. There indeed was a screen open in the message center, but she could not locate the actual screen.
On a whim Diane checked the user log. Perhaps another communications officer had used the computer. To her surprise the record showed that the last four people to log into the communications computer were: herself, Benjamin Rubin, Dennis Pearson, and Paul Loring. That was odd. Why would either Dennis or Paul use the communications system’s computer when there were several general use computers on the Bridge?
“Do you know if there was a reason that Dennis and Paul used this computer?” she asked Ben. “The communications computer is never to be used for general use. It is strictly to be used by the communications officers.”
Ben looked embarrassed. “I am sorry,” he said. “I didn’t realize there was anything wrong in letting him use it.”
“Who?”
“Dr. Loring,” Ben uttered softly. “I was on duty a couple of nights ago. It was about 0400 hours, and Dr. Loring came onto the Bridge. He said that his computer was down, and he asked if he could use mine to look something up.” Ben shifted his eyes away from Diane. “I guess I let him use it.”
“Did you sign off before letting him use it?”
“Um, well, no.”
“Ben, that is a very important procedure. You must always log off before allowing anyone else to have use of your computer. Otherwise that person can have access to all sorts of information that can be copied or forwarded to others.”
“I am truly sorry,” apologized Ben, blushing again for the second time that day. “But do you think that Dr. Loring would steal information?”
“No, of course not. But if he somehow left a masked screen open who knows if someone else has obtained access,” Diane said shaking her head. “What about Dennis? Did you let him use the computer?”
“Lieutenant Commander Pearson never used it while I was on duty.”
“Pardon me,” interrupted Bonnie Shea. She had overheard the conversation. “Dennis Pearson used the computer earlier today. About four hours ago. The computer was on standby, and he went over and logged in.”
Diane shook her head again. Her red hair bounced on her shoulders. She had never seen Dennis use the communications system computer. He always used the computers in the engineering bay or his personal computer in their quarters.
“Lieutenant Pearson,” said Ben interrupting Diane’s thoughts, “if I didn’t log off when Dr. Loring used the computer then the log would not have shown that he used it.”
“You are correct,” said Diane. “That means that Dr. Loring used it another time as well.”
The computer mon
itor started blinking and data appeared on the screen. There was no voice match.
Josh had thought about it all day while shoveling in the gravel pits. He had to be careful not to get too lost in his thoughts. He didn’t want to be caught daydreaming again. There had to be a way out of this. A way to escape. Or at least a way to get word to the Gladiator. Surely the ship was still orbiting above Brisula. Andrews and Loring would not have stopped searching for them. Joban cannot be right that the only way out was death. He would never accept that. He would never give up. Actually he had an idea. Whether he could pull it off was another thing.
“Cease digging,” the guard standing on a mound of gravel yelled. The slaves put down their shovels and automatically lined up for the long stroll back to the Cages. Josh welcomed the walk as it gave him more time to think. There had to be a control center down one of these tunnels. The Brisulans and Tradians were in communication with each other. They had to be using computers to contact each other. According to what Joban said there was a modern city beyond the gravel pits and cages. He and Wayne had seen glimpses of the silver lined tunnels when they first arrived. He was sure there was a way out somewhere down those tunnels. His mind wandered to Keith and Beverly. The two officers were growing closer everyday. He still had a hard time believing that Keith turned over classified information. He was more suspicious of Ensign Glenna. Did she manipulate Keith into telling her confidential information about their mission? Was she the one who leaked the Brisula Project Plans?
The slaves arrived at their home for the night and once again had raw fish and stale water for supper. As soon as the after supper gong sounded Josh slid over to talk again with Joban.
“Good evening, Joban. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?”
“Good evening to you also, Joshua. Please ask what you will.”
“Thank you. When you were working as a servant, did you ever see a map of the tunnel system?” Josh asked Joban.
“Yes, there were maps, but new tunnels are continually being built by the slaves, so that the maps are constantly needing updating.”
“Have the slaves ever tried to work as a whole to overtake the guards?”
“I have never witnessed something like that. Individual slaves have tried to overtake a guard. None that I know of have ever succeeded. They are usually subdued by a team of guards and taken off to the Punishment Center. They come back very timid and broken.”
“Do the Wealthies also only eat fish?” asked Josh changing the topic.
Joban laughed. “No. In fact the Brisulans despise fish. To them it is like dog food. They have an underground greenhouse tended by rented slaves.”
“So they are vegetarians,” remarked Josh. “Where do they get their supplies like clothes and dishes?”
“You ask a lot of questions,” said Fabiana, startling Josh. She slid close to Joban and grabbed his arm.
“Good evening, Fabiana,” Josh greeted her. “I am afraid that being curious is a bad habit of mine.”
“From what I was able to gather, the Brisulans receive regular deliveries from a group known as the Tradians,” said Joban answering Josh’s last question.
Fabiana tugged on Joban’s arm. He turned and gave her a kiss on her mud streaked forehead.
“I don’t mean to take away all your talking time. Thank you for answering my questions.” Josh nodded to each of them and moved back to his spot next to Shasta. He looked over to his right. Keith and Beverly were sitting close to each other. Beverly had her head on Keith’s shoulder while Keith gently ran his hands over her long hair. They were talking softly to each other. After a while Beverly looked up at Keith, and he bent down to give her a kiss.
“Hampton!” shouted Josh loudly. “Get your hands off Glenna.” Keith looked over at Josh. The surprise on his face was evident.
“Sir?” Keith said quietly.
“I said get your hands off of her. She is a traitor!” yelled Josh.
“What do you mean, sir?” asked Keith.
“You heard me!” yelled Josh even louder. “She is a tease and a traitor.” Josh stood up and walked over to Keith and Beverly. He pulled the couple apart. “You are a slut,” he said looking straight at Beverly. She stared back blankly at him. Keith jumped up. He raised his right arm and formed a fist.
“Keith, don’t,” shouted both Beverly and Wayne Shasta.
Before anyone could stop him Keith lowered his fist and punched the Captain in the jaw. Josh hit back with a shot to Keith’s abdomen causing the Lieutenant to go down on his knees.
Several guards rushed into the cage waving leather whips and carrying cattle prods. The Captain was quickly apprehended. Two guards pulled Keith up onto his feet. He was coughing and holding onto his abdomen. One of the guards spun him around, so he was face to face with Josh. The two men stared at each other. Keith looked puzzled. Josh appeared apologetic. Josh’s left ankle was unchained. Keith’s right ankle was unchained. Their other ankles remained chained to each other. The cage door was cranked open and the two officers were marched out.
CHAPTER TWELVE
June 2
The committee filed into the Conference Room at 2400 hours sharp. Everyone was bleary eyed and trying to stifle yawns. Andrews had ordered several urns of strong black coffee. They went around the room with each officer giving a report on the results of their assignments. Paul and Amanda reported that the bodies were very well made replicas; exact down to the skin pigment and hair thickness. Even every freckle was reproduced. Dr. Loring’s conclusion was that the Brisulans must have had advanced genetic information to make such perfect duplicates.
Jackson Greene reported that in addition to the lack of fish and aquatic life missing from the lake, there was also no report of other animals or birds in the forests. The trees were vibrant, and there were insects, but the absence of animal life was mystifying. Greene concluded that like the fish the animals must be trapped somewhere on the planet.
Dennis Pearson gave his summary of the ship’s engines and the Conveyor system. Everything was intact. The ship’s sensors had been altered, but they, of course, already knew that. He concluded that all they were doing was wasting valuable time.
It was the next report, given by Dave Andrews that stunned them all.
“I ran checks once again on all the ship’s computers and all personal computers. The only exception was the medical computer and the personnel files,” began Dave Andrews. “I found the following outgoing message.” He handed out a typed sheet of paper to each team member including a Braille copy to Jackson Greene. Upon the paper was typed:
June 1, 0600 hours
To: United Galaxy Command
U.S.S. Gladiator Commander Andrews plans to send divers into the Brisula Lake. Earlier tests said lake was viable. New tests show water is poisonous. Andrews was made aware but is going ahead anyway.
DP
Josh and Keith walked in silence. They were accompanied by four armed guards. Josh rubbed his chin. Hampton had gotten in a pretty powerful punch. He looked over at Keith who was still holding one hand over his abdomen. I hope I didn’t hurt him too badly.
Keith glanced at the Captain, and when he realized Josh was watching him he quickly looked away. What had gotten into the Captain? Why would he have said such vile things about Beverly? I can’t believe I hit the Captain. Now I can add assaulting a superior officer to the treason I’ve committed.
They were leaving the muddy tunnels. A shiny silver lined pathway loomed ahead of them. The guards lowered the sunglasses that were attached to their head gear. Josh and Keith walked blindly as they entered the tunnel. It took almost a minute for their eyes to adjust to the brightness. As his eyes slowly came back in focus, Josh noticed a sign attached to the silver tunnel wall.
They continued down the silver tunnel until they reached the Punishment Center. They walked past C-7 where Josh and Wayne had been taken to eight days ago. This time they were escorted to C-9. Just like C-7 there were torture chairs in the center o
f the room. The two officers were forced into the chairs, and their wrists were chained to the chair arms. The torture control station was empty. The guards left, and Josh and Keith found themselves alone.
“Are you OK? How’s your stomach?” Josh asked Keith.
“I’m fine,” answered Keith without looking at the Captain.
“You look like you’re in pain.”
“I will be all right. You don’t need to worry about me.”
He’s angry at me, thought Josh. That’s understandable. Hmm. I wonder what’s in store for us? Josh surveyed the room. Besides the torture control station and the chairs, there was a large wooden pole with leather handcuffs dangling from rusty nails. Apparently it was a whipping post. Josh hadn’t noticed one in the first room they had been detained in.
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