The evening and its activities drew to a close, Glyn and Mia retiring to their cabin for the night, and after the usual pleasantries, settled down for some well earned rest in their separate bunks.
Glyn was looking forward to the next day, as he intended to question the Captain about the asteroid and then, time permitting, return to the book room to continue the saga of those who had gone before him.
As he drifted into sleep, he wondered what had happened to the originator of the diary and why his story had ended so abruptly. Perhaps there had been an accident, or maybe the Captain had got wind of his intended exploits and put a stop to them. He wondered if he would have the nerve to follow in the steps of the first story teller, for they had found the same malfunctioning lift when they went to the hydroponics room, delivering its occupants to the service tunnel, or was it a different one?
The dreams came and went, some making little sense, some entertaining, but so far, no nightmares.
The soft tones of the ‘morning is here’ gong sounded, pulling him out of a deep and restful sleep, not that he minded too much as today was going to be a little different, if he had half a chance.
Mia was in one of her giggly moods, which usually led to a bit of slap and tickle, and it did, with the usual panting climax, so they were the last in to breakfast.
A couple of knowing grins from the already seated diners failed to have much impact on Glyn, he had other matters on his mind.
The meal consumed, they all waited for the day’s chores to be announced and allocated. They didn’t have long to wait, the Captain’s voice came in right on cue.
‘There has been a malfunction on a panel deep within one of the control units for hydroponics garden number seven.
‘Four personnel will be needed for the repair, report to the equipment room where the replacement panel will be issued together with the necessary tools.’ Before the Captain had a chance to cut the audio channel off, Glyn was in like a shot, ‘Captain, thanks for telling us about the asteroid last evening, we saw it from the observation room and couldn’t make out what the metallic constructions on its surface were. Do you have any data on what they might have been?’
‘The asteroid was observed approaching the ship, calculations were done to make sure that it would pass harmlessly by, and you were informed of its presence. I have no further data on it.’ The click of the audio circuit being cut off was almost instantaneous with the last syllable spoken. The Captain wasn’t going to give anyone a second chance to ask any awkward questions.
Glyn turned to Arki, who was seated beside him, and said,
‘The Captain’s getting just a little too slick for my liking, he anticipated my next question and cut me off short. We’ll have to sharpen up a bit if we’re going to catch him out.’
‘You’ve got a real thing about the Captain, haven’t you? Be careful it doesn’t get out of proportion and distort your judgement.’ Arki was always ready with good advice, which was rarely taken.
Glyn, assuming Arki would accompany him, asked for two more volunteers to attend the control panel replacement exercise, and the four of them briskly walked off in the direction of the equipment room.
‘You know, I’m sure some of these jobs we get sent on aren’t really necessary. I think they are designed to keep us busy or perhaps to give us some feeling of usefulness.’
Glyn quietly said to Arki as they walked along, ‘and I mean to find out, one way or another.’
‘Does it really matter? Perhaps it’s just a practice in case there’s a real mishap one day, anyway, the last big one we did in the hydroponics room certainly was no practice, or time filler as you put it. Don’t forget we lost Bolin on that one and I don’t think the Captain would risk losing one of us if it could be helped.’
‘Maybe some of these events are real and others are as I’ve said, anyway, we’ll see soon enough.’ Glyn sounded determined to prove his point, and Arki gave him a hard sideways look as they walked along.
Two lifts and seemingly endless lengths of corridors later, they arrived at the door marked 308.
‘Well, here we are, but how do we get in? There’s no handle, code pad or anything else that I can see.’ one of the others said, but before anyone could answer, the door hissed open of its own accord and they all looked at each other, not wanting to be the first to cross the threshold.
‘Oh come on, it’s not likely anything’s going to bite us.’ Glyn retorted, sounding a little cross with them, and they all trooped into the box-like structure which housed the control units, the three of them looking a little sheepish.
‘We were given no instructions as to what to do, so where do.....’
‘Thank you for attending.’ The voice of the Captain boomed at them in the confined space of the cubicle.
‘Before you, you will see a large panel stretching from floor to ceiling. It has to be released from its frame and moved to one side. Behind it are two other panels which have to be removed in a like manner. This will expose the panel you need to work on. Please proceed.’
They located the clamps which held the massive panel in place, released them and then struggled to swing the glittering piece of electronic equipment over to one side like a giant door, exposing the next panel in the series.
‘I can see why four of us were needed.’ grunted one of Glyn’s volunteers as they finely manoeuvred the giant panel into its parking position. ‘You’d think they could have come up with something a bit easier than this.’
‘Cheer up lads, only two more to go.’ a touch of sarcasm tainting the voice of the other volunteer as he reached up to release the top clamp of the next panel.
After much straining and heaving, the three panels were swung out of the way exposing the remaining one with the faulty circuit board on it.
‘You will notice on the top right-hand section of the remaining panel there is a circuit board with a flashing red light. Next to the light is a silver switch. Push this switch to the up position, release the clips holding the cable plug next to the switch, and withdraw the plug. Bend the cable form to one side. The circuit board is now without power and safe to remove. Rotate the board retaining clips and remove the board.’ The Captain’s voice had a metallic ring to it in the limited space of the cubicle.
Glyn reached up and carried out the instructions, removing the offending board from its frame and then going over to the corner of the cubicle where they had placed the spare board and tools.
He remained hunched over the equipment for only a few seconds before returning to the main panel and clipping the new board into place.
‘Now what Captain?’ Asked Glyn, trying to appear innocent of what was expected of him.
‘Reverse the procedure of removing the circuit board, finally returning the silver switch to the down position.’
Glyn did as he was bid, a green light coming on as he flipped the switch down.
‘Thank you. The replacement board is now functioning correctly. Please replace the other three control panels back into their original positions.’
This was duly done, and four hot and sweaty men collected up their equipment and were about to leave the cubicle when the Captain’s voice boomed out at them once again.
‘Thank you for your work, it was well done, you may now return to your quarters and do as you will, it is nearly time for the midday break. That is all.’
As they made their way back through the maze of corridors and the two lifts, Arki’s curiosity finally got the better of him.
‘OK, so what’s made you look so cheerful? And these little suppressed grins. What do you know that we don’t?’
‘Alright, Arki, I’ll tell you in a moment, when we’re alone.’
After reaching the more familiar part of the ship, Arki said, ‘Thanks for your help chaps, we’ll take the stuff back to the equipment room, see you at the midday break.’ and grabbing Glyn’s arm, he wheeled him off to one side down a branch corridor.
When they were out of earshot of the other two, Arki could contain himself no longer. ‘Right, what gives?’
‘Well, when I removed the offending circuit board from the main panel and went to the corner of the cubicle where we had put our tools, I shuffled the two boards about, and then put the old board back on the panel. And it worked! So there wasn’t a fault on it in the first place, and that proves my point, we are given unnecessary tasks, sometimes.’
Glyn was looking very pleased with himself.
‘God, you took a chance, the Captain might have seen you over the video link, or the board might not have worked. How would you have explained that?’
‘Easy, I just got the boards muddled up.’
‘I can well see why we are given these little jobs to do, it’s to prevent people like you getting bored and upsetting the status quo.’ Arki didn’t seem very happy with Glyn’s revelation, and could see possible trouble ahead for them.
‘The Captain’s not stupid, you know, he may well find out what you’ve done.’
‘No, he’s not stupid, and he’s not human either.’ replied Glyn, getting into his stride.
‘Oh no, you’re not going to try and prove that too?’
‘Don’t see why not, there’s no harm in it if we keep the knowledge to ourselves.’
Arki reluctantly agreed with him, he too was getting intrigued with what was real or not.
They returned to the main corridor and then made their way to the equipment room to replace the tools and circuit board for future use, one illusion shattered, and the next one firmly in their sights.
As they placed the tools and circuit board on the bench for storing they both jumped in unison as the voice of the Captain greeted them.
‘Glyn, your subterfuge in the control cubicle did not go unnoticed, although it was very well done. I trust you have proved the point which interested you so much. You are of course correct in your assumption that some tasks are not strictly necessary, from your point of view, that is. I did not comment on your action at the time, as there were others present who would not understand what was happening.’
‘I hope, for the good of the project and the mental well-being of all other members of the expedition, you will keep this knowledge to yourselves. No benefit can come of revealing what you have now proven to be true. Do you agree to withhold this information from all others?’
‘Yes, we do.’ Glyn and Arki replied together, a little shaken at the turn of events.
‘Good. No doubt there are other things which you may wish to prove or disprove, and you are permitted to do so, as long as it does not jeopardize the main project. Should the expedition be threatened in any way, extreme measures will be taken without hesitation to correct the threat. Do I make myself quite clear?’
‘Yes, we understand.’ said Glyn, feeling sure he spoke for Arki as well.
‘It must be obvious to you what our next question is,’ added Glyn, hoping to glean a little more information now that the ball was rolling.
‘Yes, it is.’ came back the reply.
‘Well, are you human like us, or what?’ Arki looked aghast at Glyn, and waited for the heavens to open and see him struck down by a bolt of lightning.
‘That is for me to know and you to find out, if you can.’ The last word was followed by the usual faint click as the audio circuit was cut off.
‘My God, you took some chances there.’ said a badly shaken Arki. ‘It looks as if you’ve got away with it this time, but I wouldn’t push your luck too far.’
Glyn just grinned at him, nodding his head, nothing would stop him now.
‘Don’t worry, we’ll keep it to ourselves. Interesting though, isn’t it?’ Arki didn’t reply.
The midday break for food was uneventful, there being no caustic comments about the chef’s offerings as it had got the colouring just about right for a change. This left a bit of a gap in the normal conversation, and not a few frustrated critics who had no doubt spent a goodly portion of the morning dreaming up a new fusillade of trite remarks to offer the chef for its efforts.
No one was called upon to do any little tasks about the ship, so all had the afternoon off, to do as they wanted.
This suited Glyn just fine. He waited for the diners to disperse in little groups, Mia with her usual gaggle of females, and then he headed off for the book room.
As he left the more familiar section of the corridors, he suddenly found his way barred, or to be more precise, the corridor just ended in flat wall of steel. His first thought was that he had taken a wrong turn somewhere, so he back tracked to a section he knew well and then tried again, this time carefully referring to his memory of the map on the equipment room wall.
The same dead end. It looked just like any other piece of corridor wall, it certainly didn’t look as if it had just been fitted to block his access to the book room.
A cold feeling went through him and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to rise.
Was this a punishment for the disrespect he had shown to the Captain? He didn’t think so, that would have been too petty. No, there must be another reason, but how could he find out what it was?
Glyn trotted back to the equipment room, just to make sure he had memorized the map correctly. And he had. Also there were no other corridors leading to the book room.
And then he had a bright idea, the lifts.
If he went as far as the blockage, went down one level in a lift and then went along the corridor to the next lift and came up one level, he reasoned that he should come out behind the blockage. End of problem.
He went back to the new section of wall and found a convenient lift just a few metres away. With a sly grin on his face he thumbed the call pad and waited for the lift to arrive. It didn’t.
Glyn pressed the pad again and then pressed his ear to the door, there was usually a faint hum as the lift moved in its shaft, but not now.
He then realized that someone or something was making a conscious effort to prevent him getting access to his books.
He could see no way of solving the problem at the moment, so he decided to go back to see what the others were doing, or perhaps discuss it with Arki. He went back up the corridor, around the first bend and found his way blocked by another new wall. Standing at the bend, he could see both blockages, and now there was no way back to the others.