This time he really felt panic. It began with a burning sensation in his stomach, and drifted upwards to cause his heart to miss a few beats.
Surely this wasn’t the work of the Captain.
He slumped down to sit on the floor, trying to figure a way out of a seemingly impossible situation. He was in effect, enclosed in a steel box with a non working lift, and no means of calling for help.
The air seemed to be warm and stuffy, and he was having difficulty in breathing, his heart was now pounding hard up against his ribs, and when he tried to get to his feet he lost his balance in a swirling mist of redness, and fell to the floor. And then the lights went out.
It seemed that he had only passed out for a few seconds, but now the air was sweet again and when he looked down the corridor the barrier was no more. Nor was the one behind him. All was back to normal.
Except for him. He didn’t feel normal, he was still shaking, although his heart had now assumed its normal regular slow beat.
He didn’t feel like going on to the book room now, he just wanted to be among his friends and in familiar places until he had calmed down again.
There was little doubt in Glyn’s mind now that something was trying to say something to him in a way he wouldn’t forget in a hurry, and they had succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
It was a quiet and rather trite Glyn who sought out his friend Arki, asking him to come to the equipment room.
They went in, shut the door and sat down on the returns bench.
‘OK, what’s happened, you look as if you’ve seen a ghost or something even worse.’ Arki opened the conversation as Glyn just sat there.
‘Not sure where to begin.’ he eventually offered, and then the whole story came out in one continuous flood.
‘Good God, that wasn’t very nice, I must say.’ Arki responded when the story was finished. He paused for a moment, as if wondering how to phrase what he wanted to say.
‘I think it was a warning, to show the power and ability the Captain has at his disposal should he ever need to use it. I’m sure he wouldn’t harm you or anyone else if there was any other way of stopping you from doing something which was against his wishes or the laws of the ship.’
‘From his response to your last attempt to squeeze information out of him, I would think he found that quite acceptable, but to go into parts of the ship which we are not supposed to enter could well be stopped by an action the like of which you have just experienced. Well, that’s what I think anyway.’ Arki leaned back against the wall to see what Glyn made of his offering, but he just sat there, looking glum.
‘I feel sure what happened to you was just a warning, a way of saying there are limits to what you can do, that is shall we say, unconventional. Come on Glyn, what happened wasn’t all that bad, you didn’t come to any real harm, you just got a nasty shock.’
‘Yes, I suppose you’re right. But it was a most unpleasant shock.’ Glyn replied.
‘How about we both go to the book room, just to prove the point. I don’t suppose there will be any restrictions to your movements now that the Captain’s made his point.’ Arki offered, trying to cheer his friend up.
‘Not much point really, only one of us can go in at a time because of the breathing helmet which has to be used, thanks anyway.’
They sat there in morbid silence for a while, until Arki just couldn’t stand it any longer and he made one last attempt.
‘Let’s go and try to trick the chef into coughing up something vaguely resembling food, I’m feeling a bit hungry.’
Glyn agreed with little grace, and they both made their way down the corridor towards the eating room.
F
or the next three days everyone was kept very busy, whether by accident or design it was hard to tell. Glyn was his old self again, grumbling at some of the jobs allocated to him as he deemed them pure time wasters and not at all necessary to the functioning of the ship.
On the fourth day after Glyn’s unpleasant experience on the way to the book room, everything was back to normal, only one team of two being required to replace a pump in the water system, and he had free time on his hands again.
The book room called with its offer of more interesting stories from the past, and the temptation was too much for him. The sting had gone from the memory of his last attempt to reach the room, and once the midday meal was over he was on his way.
This time there were no barriers in his way, and the past events were soon forgotten as he opened the diary at the last page he had read.
My name is Roget Block, I am fifty four years old measured by ship time, and it is the three hundred and thirtieth year since the expedition set forth from Earth.
Sadly, it has taken just over two hundred years for someone else to discover this diary of events, which just goes to show how much the book room is used.
I have read the story up to this point, and was curious as to what happened to Jon, as his entries ended so abruptly. I can only assume that some tragedy befell him while in the service tunnels he was so keen to explore, but there is no proof of this.
I have questioned the Medic at great length, and in a somewhat devious manner to try and elicit some information from him, but to no avail.
All I can find out from the records is that he was here one day, and gone missing the next. Everyone at the time searched high and low for him, leaving no corner of the ship which they were allowed to enter, unchecked.
According to the Medic’s records, a couple were called in to the medical room two days after Jon’s disappearance, and given permission to bear a child. I can only conclude that the Medic knew that Jon wasn’t returning to the ship’s company, and so a replacement was authorized.
I have no desire to go wandering down among the service tunnels, as these places are meant for machines and we are forbidden to go anywhere not clearly shown on the corridor map. Unless, of course, there is an emergency, and then we are given explicit instructions on where to go and what to do, watched over by the Captain on a video link.
The quasi religious group mentioned in Jon’s report earlier, seems to have fizzled out as there is no sign of it now. In fact, quite to the contrary, we seem to be a very materialistic group, in so far that we do not believe in any gods, devils or things spiritual, just ourselves.
One of our number, who is into higher mathematics in a big way, is of the opinion that the day and week we experience on the ship bears no relationship to that of Earth times. We have no way of proving it one way or another, but the concept is gathering interest by the day.
We have tried to question Teacher about it, but it denies all knowledge of a difference, and the Captain won’t even entertain the questions in the first place. This leads us to think there might be something in the theory, but we can’t understand why the truth is being kept from us. Our mathematician is still working on it, and no doubt will come up with a satisfactory answer one day.
We had a bit of excitement the other night when the Captain announced at the evening meal that a large piece of rock was coming up behind us, and although it would not hit us, it would pass by quite closely and would be worth looking at. The observation room is very small, having only four chairs for prolonged viewing, and just enough room for four other people to stand behind them, so we had to take it in turns to view the rock.
It was massive, much bigger than our ship, and we could see the shadow of our vessel on its surface as it blocked out the star light behind it.
It passed by very slowly, giving us a chance to view the surface and some strange constructions thereon. We have no idea what they are, but they looked as if they were not natural, but who can say what natural is?
Glyn stopped reading, his heart missed a beat and he could feel cold sweat beginning to form on his back. The description of the space rock event was too much like the asteroid which had passed them not so long ago.
‘Two asteroids with almost the same details passing so close to the ship in the space of a couple of hundred years is well beyond chance, unless it’s on a curving path and we’ve intersected its path again. I wonder.’ he said to himself.
Glyn read on hurriedly, but there was no further mention of the mystery asteroid. Obviously, the author hadn’t felt inclined to query the incident, as he had done.
He somehow felt he wanted the company of his fellow humans, and Arki in particular, so he noted the page number he had reached in the diary and replaced it on the shelf, and before he realized it, he was hurrying along the maze of corridors towards the living quarters, eager to tell Arki of his astounding find.
As he passed the equipment room, four men burst out and ran off down one of the corridors, each laden with tool boxes and one struggling and cursing under the load of a large and heavy coil of convoluted tubing.
‘What’s going on?’ Glyn called out, but they were out of ear shot before he could hear their reply, if there was one.
He hurried on towards the eating room and bumped into Arki as he came running out.
‘Where’ve you been? There’s an emergency call from the Captain, two of the hydroponics rooms have gone down, and there’s a leak in the water recycling system.’ he panted.
‘I’ve been in the book room, and discovered something which you will find hard to believe, in fact I’m not sure if I do.’ The corridor lights dimmed a little, and then came back on.
‘I really don’t like this, things seem to be breaking down at an ever increasing rate these days, and I sometimes wonder if we shall ever reach our destination, wherever that is.’ It was the first time Glyn had seen naked fright on Arki’s face, and he felt it too.
‘My story can wait,’ Glyn took Arki’s elbow and guided him back into the eating room, ‘have all the teams been sent out? I saw one rushing off as I came here.’
‘Yes, three teams have gone to attend the breakdowns, but you were asked for in person by the Captain, so you must have made a good impression somewhere along the line.’
Glyn wasn’t sure if Arki was being sarcastic or really meant it, when the lights dimmed again, flickered, and then came back on.
They looked at each other, both realizing that things were taking a turn for the worse, and there was probably little they could do about it.
‘Now that you’ve convinced me that the Captain is in the same league as Teacher and the dreaded Medic, I’m beginning to wonder what will happen if he goes the same way and can no longer be relied upon to give coherent information. Also, as far as I can see, he runs the whole ship. What happens if something breaks down, and he doesn’t tell us, or release the lift doors so that we can reach the other levels? Only he can issue tools and materials from the equipment room, so what do we do if he fails?’ Arki blurted it all out in one go. Just then the lights dimmed again.
Glyn looked thoughtful for a moment, his brow furrowed,
‘I’ll take a chance on it and put our concerns to the Captain as soon as he comes on the audio circuit again, I don’t think there’s any other way of getting through to him, that I know of. Somehow, we must be able to take control if the worst happens and the Captain blows the proverbial fuse.’
‘We may as well stay here now; it’s not long to mealtime.’ Arki said, and they did, talking over their concerns about the ship and what they could do themselves in an emergency, which didn’t amount to very much, and that worried them.
The others, in ones and twos trooped in, to be followed by a group of four looking more than a little dishevelled, and not at all happy with their lot in the greater scheme of things.
‘How did it go?’ asked Glyn. ‘Not very well, the video link was down, the Captain didn’t seem to know what he was talking about, or his mind was on other things so we just had to do the best we could and try and figure out what the problem was with the water recycler.’
‘Did you fix it OK?’ Glyn was looking worried.
‘Yes, I think so, we at least stopped the leaks by changing one of the pumps and several gaskets, and we could hear water circulating so I think all’s well, for now that is.’
‘What do you mean, for now?’ Arki was now showing an interest.
‘Well, the whole system is showing signs of corrosion and there must be a limit to the replacement parts available.’ The man looked glum and without much hope for the future by the sad turn down of his mouth.
Glyn was now determined to tackle the Captain on the subject, come hell or high water, but he would have to wait until the Captain came on line, as it were.
The meal progressed without the usual jollity and banter about the food, as most were now concerned about the state of the ship and its equipment, and Glyn about the Captain’s circuit boards.
The meal was over, the fruit bowl emptied and some of the diners were about to leave, when the Captain made his announcement.
‘Glyn and Arki, would you please report to the Medic’s room after this meal break.’
‘Yes, of course.’ Glyn replied for both of them, as usual.
As they turned into the corridor, Glyn turned to Arki and said, ‘I suspect the Captain listens to all our conversations, that’s how he is able to forestall some of the things we try to do, and I think that’s a bit sneaky.’
‘It may be, but he is thinking of the greater good of all and the ship, so I suppose we have to lose a little privacy.’
The door of the Medic’s room hissed opened as they approached, which took them both by surprise, they usually had to press the opening pad in the middle of the door.
‘Thank you for attending, please be seated.’ Glyn thought the tone of the Captain was a little more severe than usual, but maybe he had anticipated something like this happening, and expected a telling off.
‘I am aware of your concerns about me and the ship, and I wish to allay your fears before they make you do something detrimental to the expedition and yourselves.
‘First, a little history is needed. When the ship first set out, those on board knew exactly what Teacher, Medic and I were, just a very complex series of electronic circuits, or to put it in the old terms, computers. As time went by, and the generations of travellers changed their views of their world, it became apparent that they would be much happier if they thought I at least, were human, isolated from the rest of them for some reason they could not fathom out. It has remained like that for many generations, you being the first to have real doubts about my real state for a very long time. This knowledge will do you no harm, but it would be wise to withhold it from your fellow travellers who are not like you, at least for a while.