Authors: DENNIS MILLER
“
Leading Officer Duarte is unaware of my true purpose for being here, and because she is an integral part of my mission I need her to believe that she is on a level playing field with the rest of us.
“
In exchange for no procedures against you upon our return I am asking you to re-code her unit and to hand that control back to the MAC system. If it makes you feel easier you may code in a time delay of ten minutes on her re-statement; as things stand she is unaware of her abduction, I would prefer it to stay that way.
“
I give you my word that I shall forfeit my life before I allow her or anyone else to harm this mission or anyone on it. Please reply soon, for we have less than thirty minutes remaining.” Walking across to Rachmels’ unit she left the two Officers to discuss the situation.
“I don’t like it” said the Commander, “She has more or less admitted that Duarte is the target, and still she wants me to release her; this is our lives on the line here.”
After a moment, Miles said “I think you should comply, Commander. What good will it do to die over this? If for no other reason think of the effect it will have on the girl, to know that her favourite aunt has been put to death by the state, when in fact she should go down in history as a bloody hero.”
Rachmel looked at her friend, the tears beginning to form in her eyes; the image of her daughter in her mind and in a low voice she said “You bastard, Miles.”
“I’m sorry Commander, but painful as it is we have more than ourselves to think about here. I’m the last person to fly the flag for Andretta, you know that, but she’s said she’ll put her life on the line to protect us, and you have said yourself that the Agents don’t lie.
“
I believe her when she says she has Duarte under control; when you think about it she’s had us all under control in one way or another since we boarded this vessel, but I suppose that’s the nature of the bureau; the price we pay for the pleasure of the company of an Agent. And to be honest, whatever we may think about them Agents are more reliable to their word than anyone else we are likely to meet in our lifetimes.
I believe it would be for the best to leave this situation in her hands.”
Rachmel almost grinned at the irony; only a short time ago Miles had been plotting a suicide mission to dispose of Andretta, and now here he was singing her praises; but she had to admit to herself he was probably right.
After a short pause she turned to Andretta. “Very well, it shall be as you say, but be advised that should anything happen to any member of my crew or this vessel as a result of this decision I shall hound you for the rest of your life with litigation after litigation until someone decides enough is enough, and then it will be your life that is on the line; think of your daughter.”
Andretta was silent for a long moment, whatever was running through her mind was not apparent in her body language nor did it reveal itself on her face and eventually she responded “Very well Commander, if you would be so kind.”
Moving across to Duartes’ unit,
Rachmel keyed in the automatic control and when she had finished, Andretta said “Thank you, and now if you please.” Indicating Rachmels’ unit by her side.
“No,” Said the Commander, “I’ll take yours - if you have no objections, that is.”
Andretta smiled, “None whatsoever Commander, but being the last to closedown I shall need to transfer the remote controller from my unit to your unit.”
When this had been done, Rachmel stepped into the pod and went through the procedure; pausing before drawing up the inner shield she looked directly at Miles and said “See you on the other side.”
Miles winked as he replied
“No question.”
Andretta closed the Commander down under the watchful eye of Miles who kept close by throughout.
Turning to face him, Andretta said “Your turn next Leading Engineer.”
Miles stepped into the unit and carried out the necessary functions; when ready he said “Internal completed.”
“Thank you Leading Engineer…
for everything. Sleep well.” Replied Andretta.
Miles felt the slight change in pressure as the outer cover slid silently into place; cocooned in the womb-like pod he felt his body rapidly relaxing in preparation for the hibernation process; he felt safe in the knowledge that M.A.C would be in complete control of their situation from here on.
What the hell did she mean by ‘thanks for everything?
he wondered.
P
robably trying to get around me for later; some bloody chance, bloody ghost.
Just as sleep was beginning to make its presence felt, the thought that had been troubling him suddenly tumbled into his mind.
She had said that the aliens had used the wormhole to reach Earth; and that the stories of their presence had been handed down through the ages; but the people on Earth would have had no knowledge of the wormhole so long ago, so how could she have known, unless…unless...Oh Jesus! the realisation of what had been whispering to his reason suddenly crashed into his brain; the echo of her words now screamed back to him…“and she has a female child.”
All this time he had been preoccupied with the family details of the other women, even the Commander; Oh sweet Jesus no, noooooo.…
But now the pre–hibernation medication had performed its task and his whole body felt leaden; the fingers of oblivion were already reaching into and caressing his mind.
Miles slid silently
into the arms of Morpheus and slept like a dead man.
Andretta spoke into her remote interface, “MAC, all events in this section no log; proceed as per mission orders.”
“Complied.”
The agent then proceeded to closedown herself in the Commanders’ unit.
When completed,
she said to herself “For the greater good.” And then she too slept.
Eleven minutes later MAC made a
slight adjustment to the course; this for the final run into the wormhole which, in exactly four hours time, they would be entering and then they would be travelling at seventy five per cent the speed of light for the equivalent of sixty Earth years.
This presented no problem to the humans on board as MAC could keep them all in suspension indefinitely; but MAC was not aware of the virus that had been placed on the seals of the units, and which would become effective seven days after closedown.
Duartes’ unit was the first to be affected, as the virus began to attack and then break down the atoms of the seal. The minute perforations that were created by the virus was causing the life preserving gasses and pressures to escape; this was just a tiny loss at first and was controllable, but as the virus expanded the leakage became life threatening.
The fault had been sensed immediately by MAC who attempted to compensate for the tiny loss of pressure and the slight rise in temperature inside the unit, but as the virus spread the deterioration became more rapid and MAC was beginning to lose the struggle. Without the aid of the pod’s seal Duarte could not be re-stated, which left MAC with no alternative other than to carry on fighting an unwinnable battle. Twenty four hours later the rest of the units yielded to their shares of the virus.
Two days later MAC was recording no life signs on board, and had automatically re-programmed to abort mission and to return to base. Any attempt to turn the ship inside the wormhole, however, would have been catastrophic for the vessel as the pressures would have been too great and so, they would have to wait to exit the other end and then return; a combined time lapse of one hundred and twenty Earth years inside the craft, but outside a mere two months.
Delta Sierra One’s external data recording continued to run as normal, but all internal recording had ceased to function.
Commander of missions appeared on the screen. “What do you have, Controller?”
The Leading Control Officer answered calmly, his voice not registering the turmoil going on inside his mind, “We have just initiated capture mode on an incoming space vessel approaching at point two five S.O.L, Commander.”
“Who?”
“Delta Sierra One sir.” And in a more subdued tone, “No life signs.”
After a short silence the Controller spoke again, “I shall be docking her into bay three sir, inspection team is standing by.”
“Thank you, Controller, no one is to enter the vessel until my arrival; there will be no communication with the MAC system without my order.”
“Yes sir.”
The Controller viewed his screens as the vessel was brought in at a steady 30,000 miles per hour; at 500 miles distance the speed of the vessel was progressively reduced to that of pre-docking rate.
As the vessel was brought almost to a halt, the man thought
If anyone in there
wasn’t clamped down they would be bouncing around now like a ball in a tin can
.
The inspection team watched the monitors of the inner docking area as Delta Sierra One was clamped and drawn inexorably into the outer docking bay, and once the clamps were locked the monitoring system announced “Craft Delta Sierra One is secured; boarding procedure may now be activated.”
The three women and four men of the inspection team turned and faced the doorway to the sealed chamber that would lead them directly onto the vessel; no one moved, for the Commander hadn’t yet arrived.
In his quarters the Commander was trying to come to terms with the inevitable.
No life signs;
He had sent these people to their deaths: He should have launched more probes into the wormhole and kept on sending them until they had gathered enough information to guarantee one hundred per cent safety for a manned mission. But he hadn’t; instead he had allowed his superior back on Earth to browbeat him into sending a manned mission as soon as possible and now these good Officers were dead. The responsibility, therefore, was his and his alone; this would put the project back at least another twenty years.
The Controllers’ calm tones interrupted his thoughts. “Delta Sierra One is docked in bay three sir; inspection team are standing by.”
“Thank you. Controller.” As an afterthought he added “Good job.”
“Thank you sir.”
Outside
in the corridor he stepped into the waiting hoverbug.
“
Destination please.”
Unable to keep the concern from his voice the Commander replied “Docking bay three.”
Once inside the vessel he ordered the team to investigate the bio-hibernation section while he inspected Commander Rachmels’ quarters. Once there he placed his hand on the identification pad of the desk and said “Code zero zero.”
“Commander of
missions. Request please.”
Speaking in a low voice, he asked “What the hell happened here, MAC?”
“
Six days after entering the wormhole Leading Physics Officer Duartes’ bio-hibernation unit developed minor seal leakage; this mainframe system attempted compensation procedure: twenty four hours later all inhabited units developed seal leakage; this mainframe system attempted compensation procedure: forty eight hours later all life forms had ceased. This mainframe system then proceeded to abort mission and return to home base.”
The report was delivered within a few seconds and seemingly to the Commander in a cold and monotone manner, but that was what you got from a computer - cold facts - all life forms had ceased - just another piece of data.
“Investigate cause of leakage.”
“
No relevant data available to this mainframe facility.”
“Investigate breach of vessels’ hull.”
“No external damage.”
“Investigate non human life forms on this vessel from start of mission.”
“
No relevant data available for non-human life forms on this vessel.”
“Investigate actions of violence on this vessel.”
“
No data on actions of violence on this vessel.”
“Investigate and download all internal visual and audio communication on this mission to Base mainframe system, code zero zero.”