Space 1999 #4 - Collision Course Page 12

  Instead, looking around, he said, ‘You’ve done wonders, Ted.’

  Tanner came prancing forward. ‘Of wonder! Science in the belly and salad on the brain.’

  The man was deranged, he had to be, and Bergman wondered why he had the run of the place. Surely he held a potential danger in his wild caperings and mindless babbling. Perhaps a previous respect still held sway; he had, after all, been the Commander.

  Glancing at two tall transparent cabinets he said, to Foster. ‘Tell me something of these, Ted.’

  Tanner gave the other no chance to reply.

  ‘Toys for the professor,’ he chuckled. ‘New toys to play with time. Take care! They’ll twist you out of mind!’

  Like a child he cavorted towards the crystal fire in the main cavern, halting to stand beside Helena where she lay sleeping. Bending down he whispered in her ear.

  ‘Go home!’ Again, in her other ear. ‘Go home!’

  ‘What?’ She woke and stared at him. ‘Colonel?’

  ‘Go home to Alpha!’

  Helena rose as he danced away. Frieda, Foster’s woman, stood with some other Thulians watching her. As if coming to a sudden decision she approached, took Helena by the hand and led her close to the strange fire.

  ‘He’s right, Doctor. Go home to Alpha.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Doom sits on a pinnacle of ice and no birds sing.’

  Frieda ignored Tanner’s interruption. ‘You must not stay here. There is nothing here for you. We are living people frozen in eternity. You must go home to Alpha.’

  ‘But Alpha isn’t home,’ said Helena. ‘It’s just a barracks on a mobile rock flying endlessly through space. We want a real home, a place to settle and to build. To form a new life and to have children—’

  ‘There can be no children here!’

  The harsh bleakness of the woman’s voice was disconcerting. Helena said, ‘But you asked us to come. We were invited by Doctor Rowland.’

  ‘Ah, yes, the Doctor!’ Tanner had crept towards her and was abruptly squatting at her side. ‘But has he told you everything? Of the expedition, yes, of the storm and why we had to land on Ultima Thule and some of what we had to do in order to survive. But he hasn’t told you yet that here we live forever, that we have been here for eight hundred and eighty years, that we haven’t aged since we landed, that we are the same yesterday, today, tomorrow and that the price of immortality is impotence. No growth, no future, no end. Just ever and a day—’ His arms flew wide in a gesture which, embraced the watchers, the cavern, the planet itself, ‘—this!’

  Rowland said, easily, ‘Jack is inclined to dramatize everything. He exaggerates as you have probably noticed and he is, well, a little abnormal in certain ways. He mustn’t be blamed for that. In many ways he is a hero.’

  ‘I’m not denying that,’ said Koenig. ‘But is what he said true?’ He had heard it from Helena and now they with Bergman faced Rowland in the communications room of the palace. A room which held the old ship computer now bulky with additional banks.

  ‘It is true,’ admitted Bergman. ‘The age part, at least.’

  ‘Victor?’

  Bergman had been busy at the computer. He turned with a print-out in his hand, his face puzzled.

  ‘It seems true enough, John. The year is 2870—either they or we have been through some kind of time warp. They could have been thrown back while we could have been thrown forward. It isn’t important just which, the result is the same. These people have lived close to nine hundred years on this world.’

  Rowland said, ‘Commander Koenig, I need your help. When we first landed here our concern was to survive. We had to adapt to the local conditions and it wasn’t easy to take the necessary steps. We succeeded as you can see, but what we were losing, although we didn’t know it, was our human biochemical structure. For centuries now I have tried to isolate the factor which has given us our longevity but always there has been one problem I cannot surmount.’

  ‘You lacked a normal subject from which to obtain a comparison,’ said Helena.

  ‘Exactly, but that difficulty is now over. You are here, colleagues and fellow scientists, and together we will climb Olympus and wrest their secrets from the Gods. Listen to me and understand. The blight of human life has been death. The most brilliant minds cut off in their prime. Progress held back by accidents and the sheer inability of one man to live long enough to learn all there is to know in his field. But if we can leave Thule carrying with us the secret of longevity there will be no end—only better and more enticing beginnings. We shall find paradise!’

  A dream as old as mankind itself. Never to grow old, to be always young, to learn, to see the future as something impossibly remote. To be given the time to harvest knowledge, to let it mature, to taste gracefully of life’s pleasures.

  To walk—not to run.

  To linger—not to race past in a futile effort to extend the working span.

  And the dream had bones of reality.

  Koenig looked at what lay in a vast chamber and listened to the words of a man obsessed.

  ‘We are rebuilding the Uranus probe but this time with improved engines. When we have the secret and when this ship is complete we shall own the universe. We shan’t be dependent on your lumbering and uncontrollable moon. We shall travel wherever and whenever we please. But this is a matter of mere technology. I want you to join me now in one final experiment. Then together we will step forward into the greatest scientific adventure in the entire history of Man. Unencumbered by death we shall leap from planet to planet, star to star. We shall be gods!’

  Gods—the word left a sour taste in Koenig’s mouth. Once men forgot their humanity they turned into beasts not deities, animals not angels. Balor had been proof of that and here it was again, the same dream, the same promise, the same ambition—would the same decadence follow?

  He felt a pull at his arm and heard Tanner’s low whisper. ‘I see a hungry mind. I’ll feed it on wormwood and gall.’

  ‘Meaning?’

  Tanner grimaced and led Koenig from the chamber to a secluded cave in which glowed a crystal fire at which sat a group of men and women. They remained immobile, the ruby light shining on their glazed eyes, their vacuous faces.

  ‘The Revered Ones,’ said Tanner. ‘The results of centuries of experiments. We take care of them, feed them, wash away their filth. They need nothing more and could do without that—what does a vegetable care about dirt?’

  ‘Rowland?’ Then, as Tanner nodded, Koenig said, ‘Why didn’t you stop him?’

  ‘We were all scientists and we had to learn how to survive. As Commander I was the first to submit myself to the experiments. I was luckier than those you see. After a long time I regained what we wittily call my mind. It was a gamble I had to take—your people do not. Think of the woman, Commander, sitting here for centuries staring at nothing.’

  Tanner’s voice broke, turned into a giggling laugh.

  ‘Call me a fool if you will, gentle sir, but I’m not such a fool as that!’

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Koenig burst into the laboratory just in time. Helena and Bergman were already in the transparent cabinets and Rowland had his hand on a panel of switches. He turned, frowning as Koenig tore open the cabinets and pulled the others from them.

  ‘Commander! What are you doing!’

  ‘Preventing what could be a mistake. Helena, Victor, did you know that they have a cave here in which idiots are kept? Poor devils whose minds have been ruined by experiments?’

  Rowland said, sharply, ‘They are volunteers. They understood the risks involved and accepted them.’

  ‘Victor?’

  ‘Doctor Rowland described the projected experiment as a development of epsilon ray analysis,’ said Bergman. ‘I respected his medical reputation on Earth and I admire his spectacular achievements here on Thule. I accepted his assurance that I would be in no danger.’

  ‘Helena?’

  ‘John, this is th
e greatest medical challenge we can face. The conquest of death is the implicit basis of the Hippocratic oath.’

  ‘So you both intend to continue?’

  ‘Why not, John?’ Bergman was puzzled. ‘What harm can there be in a simple in-depth cellular analysis? Surely you have no suspicions of Doctor Rowland? What can he possibly hope to gain?’

  ‘New recruits,’ said Koenig bluntly. ‘New followers and new workers for his project. But I can’t stop you doing what you want. All I ask is that you delay for a while. Wait until after we’ve contacted Alpha. It won’t be long. In a few days we must decide whether to evacuate or not.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said Rowland. ‘We can’t contact Alpha. Something is wrong with our communications equipment.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter. We still have the Eagle.’

  ‘It has gone.’ Rowland shrugged as he met their eyes. ‘I would have told you. Search parties have failed to discover it.’

  ‘John, Alan must have made it!’ Helena stared at him, her eyes glowing. ‘He’s alive!’

  ‘But he must think we’re not.’ Bergman frowned, thinking. ‘Logic would dictate that as well as experience. Yet I can’t believe they would abandon us without making another search. Doctor, are you sure your radio equipment can’t be repaired?’

  ‘My experiments! You can’t fail me now! That analysis is essential if the secret of longevity is to be discovered!’

  ‘No!’ Frieda stood at the opening of the cavern, Tanner behind her, others clustered behind him. A schism in the group, Koenig guessed, and wondered just how much he had been used by the apparent madman and why. ‘We don’t need the secret. Mankind doesn’t need it. We are cursed with it but we had no choice. I say that things have gone far enough.’

  ‘Fool! What do you know about it?’

  ‘I am a woman. I want children—where are they? We need to grow—how? Commander Koenig, do you want your people to become like we are? Is that the best you can hope to give them?’

  Life, perhaps endless life, but with it would come stasis. And already he could see the problems. Who would refuse the gift in order to remain fertile, spending the years waiting, watching their youth slip away while others stayed unchanged? And if all took it what would be the point of existence at all? And, if none, would he ever dare to—No. It was unthinkable that such a gift could be ignored.

  Taking Tanner to one side Koenig said, quietly, ‘What’s happening here, Jack?’

  ‘A whistle in the dark, is that happening enough? Or does poor old Jack have to swing to show that he has a neck?’

  ‘When Rowland begged, us to come it was your voice which told us to stay away.’

  ‘It had little effect, though you heard it well enough.’ He sniffed suspiciously at the air. ‘Strange, don’t you think, that now they are so close your people should suffer your loss in silence?’

  ‘Meaning what?’

  ‘It’s an ill wind that carries the stink of fish.’

  And a nod was as good as a wink to a blind horse, thought Koenig sourly. The advantage of acting the fool was that anything you said could be taken two ways and innocence could always be claimed.

  Rowland said, ‘I’m sorry to press the point, Commander, but I would like to get on with my analysis. If you are ready, Professor? And you, Doctor?’

  ‘I’d like to see those people in the cavern,’ said Helena abruptly. ‘The ones who have lost their minds.’

  ‘The Revered Ones? But certainly.’ Rowland smiled. ‘It may even be possible that you could give me your opinion on any hope of corrective therapy. If you will follow me, please? Frieda, isn’t it time the meal was being prepared?’

  For a moment the woman stood her ground and then, sullenly, turned and moved back into the main cavern, the others trooping after her,

  As Rowland accompanied by Bergman and Helena left the chamber Koenig said, ‘Right, Jack, now let’s look at that communications equipment.’

  It was a jumble of bits and pieces, circuits improvised, components substituted for others, the marks of genius and a wild inspiration mixed to produce an installation which would have any electronics engineer in a whirl.

  Koenig probed as he traced and checked, pursing his lips as he snapped free a printed circuit which bore the marks of burning.

  ‘Have you a replacement for this?’

  ‘A replacement? No. But this should do the job as well.’ Tanner passed over a complex component. ‘You look at it oddly, and oddly you may look and, looking, the more oddly it appears the odder it seems.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘A question to which there can be a multitude of answers,’ crowed Tanner. ‘Why this? Why that? Why therefore, why? Why not test the device and discover why it is like it is?’

  ‘I wasn’t talking about the radio.’ Koenig clipped the part into place and stood, looking at his companion. ‘Colonel Jack Tanner,’ he said. ‘Graduated the top of his class, registered IQ of 176, three degrees and a mastery of inter-spacial mathematics unequalled in the entire world. You weren’t a fool then and I don’t believe you’re one now.’

  ‘Should I smile from under my arm to convince you?’

  ‘No. Is it because of Rowland?’

  ‘Ask the Revered Ones.’

  ‘Of whom you were once a member.’ Koenig pursed his lips. ‘A bad time, but if you recovered then why haven’t the others? Perhaps you should think of that.’

  ‘And you should think of a moon. A moon and a song in June to go with the moon. Ah, me, lackaday, Jack’s dull today. Who wants a stupid fool?’

  ‘King Rowland?’ Koenig caught the flicker of the eyes. ‘God Rowland? God,’ he repeated. ‘A man with such tremendous potential power. How to control him? He isn’t a basically bad man so why shoot him? He is even a likeable man and was once a close friend. And men who have faced death together, who have travelled dimensions of unknown space and have won through—such men share something they can never lose. Respect, regard, even a deep and abiding affection. Men who would die for each other, who would kill—who might play a part in order to maintain a sense of perspective. Warm, Jack?’

  ‘Too warm and you will burn.’

  ‘A fool,’ mused Koenig. ‘In ancient times the emperors used to hire men to ride in their chariots behind them and to whisper in their ears, You too are mortal! A reminder that they were not gods. The fool of a king could make jests with impunity. King Rowland,’ he repeated. ‘God Rowland. Jack—you have my respect. The doctor is a lucky man to have a friend such as yourself.’

  Tanner said, flatly, ‘One thing straight. I am Thule’s fool.’

  ‘A job you can keep.’ Koenig snapped a series of switches on the panel and paused with his hand on the final key. ‘Here’s hoping.’

  Pressing the key he spoke.

  ‘Koenig calling from Ultima Thule. Koenig calling Alpha. Do you read me? Answer if you receive me. Koenig calling Alpha base. Calling from Ultima Thule. Do you read me? Answer if you—’

  Sound blasted from the speaker.

  ‘Commander! Is that really you? You’re alive and well?’ Morrow’s voice, strained, incredulous but reflecting his relief.

  ‘Easy, Paul. Yes, we’re all alive and well. Alan?’

  ‘We got him back in time. He’s a little stiff but otherwise OK. He’s got a scratch or two but nothing to worry about. But the reception! Not a trace of static. Orders, Commander?’

  ‘Send down an Eagle. Fix location on this signal and set up a guide programme in the ship computer. I’ll try and arrange a homing signal. You’d better send—’

  ‘No argument, Commander.’ Carter’s voice coming strong and clear and determined. ‘I’m coming down in person.’

  ‘No!’ snapped Koenig. ‘Alan, you’re not fit enough. You can’t!’

  ‘He can’t hear you,’ said Morrow cheerfully. ‘He’s already on his way to the pad. Don’t worry, I’ll send Doctor Mathias down with him. Any chance of establishing visual contact?’

  Koenig g
lanced at Tanner who shook his head.

  ‘No. I’m using a special rig which must be draining the energy-source in order to blast a hole through the static by sheer power. Have you the location fixed? Good. Maintain contact with the Eagle.’

  ‘A good name,’ Tanner said as Koenig turned from the panel. ‘A bird of prey sweeping down through the mist and cold to pick clean our bones. Yet, perhaps, this prey also has claws. What will be the outcome, Commander? Will we go or will you come? Shall we share your world or will you share ours?’

  He twisted, cavorting, furs flapping, and Koenig could almost hear the jangle of bells.

  ‘Well? Is the decision so hard to make, John Koenig? A plague on both your houses! Which is it to be?’

  Mathias was entranced. He walked over the floor of the main cavern and halted before the crystal fire, holding out his hands as if to a brazier.

  ‘Fantastic! A short radioactive half-life, I assume, but surely there must be attendant danger from emitted particles?’

  ‘Very little.’ Ted Foster was at his side. ‘It’s a peculiarity of these crystals that they generate a magnetic field under stress conditions which traps the particles and allows the induced energy to escape as long-wave radiation. There’s nothing to worry about unless you actually touch the crystals or get too close.’

  ‘Just like an ordinary fire.’ Mathias shook his head and stared up and around the cavern. ‘What do you think of it, Alan?’

  Carter was standing at a large table on which stood platters heaped with a variety of food. He picked up a portion of roasted lion, smelt it and grinned.

  ‘Meat! Real, honest to God meat! It’s worth moving down here just to get away from those yeast and algae surrogates.’ He lifted the joint. ‘Here’s to good food!’

  ‘Don’t!’ Koenig walked quickly towards the pilot as he lifted the meat to his mouth. ‘You can’t eat it, Alan. Your metabolism won’t accept the local food until you’ve been adapted.’

  ‘Then let’s get adapted.’ Reluctantly Carter put down the roasted portion of lion. ‘Good food, warmth, a place in which to live and work, extended life—what are we waiting for? When do we evacuate, Commander?’