The Thing: from the Depths of Hell (4 page)

To Kruger he sounded as if he had been given
a hard time, and hard time understanding the problem. He confirmed
that the entire vehicle crews had experienced losses of memories,
but not just normal ones, and that they had experienced only memory
losses in the regions of their brains that were used for
identifying people, which he never thought was possible, especially
not wired up to a machine. There were also people aboard that had
experienced it too, but only about people aboard the vehicles, and
much of the information had been erased from their records on them
too, and that they were investigating everyone and everything
involved.

It was a strange situation to him, as they
had not come up with any information on what the motives of the
people behind it were.

Kruger also could not get any proper motive
to explain things, and how they had carried it out.

He sat and listened to the detailed
accounts, and sat dazed, partially staggered, considering what the
outcome was going to be.

Then there was a discovery of another
vehicle, which seemed to stagger Major Ripley and Kruger
simultaneously, while Dan sat silently observing them, not moving,
examining everything.

Five vehicles had left to scan the world in
a detailed surveillance mission and six vehicles had returned!

Moreover, things were confused further
by two of the vehicles being identical, and by the fact that they
had to have brought an identical vehicle aboard the GX1, and
sneaked it out with them, and returned with them, which seemed
impossible with the technology and surveillance of everything they
had
–
unless they had people working for them as leading engineers
and in the control room
–
and they hide what was occurring
–
and they
believed someone had screwed up somewhere, and they got
caught
–
with the extra vehicle carrying out the illegal
mission.

Colonel Pratt, with his military view,
believed some valuable rare mineral could have been detected from
the ship, and the information hidden, which could be for military
use.

They believed the merchandise may be still
in a vehicle, and they were monitoring all the vehicles, especially
the sixth vehicle, and they were going to allow each vehicle to
enter through the energy screen, one at a time, and check them.

Kruger sat amazed, wondering where the sixth
vehicle was, and who was in the sixth vehicle, and he looked out
the window, miles out, and tried to see the vehicles.

Colonel Pratt had said he believed the
vehicle was identical to their vehicle, the fourth vehicle, and
looked slightly aged, but he never said where it was, and he never
mentioned anything about Dan, and if he was anything to do with
what was happening, which confused things further. Was he really
his twin? If not, how did they come up with him? Was he altered to
look like him, by some form of cosmetic alteration?

Yet why would they have done it? There was
more of a chance of them being caught! And what was his
mission?

A shiver ran up his spine as he thought of
what was going to happen in the next hours, and days ahead, and he
could sense it could be bad, especially after watching Major Ripley
giving unaccustomed reactions, and now looked as if he was going
over everything, making sure that he had not missed anything.

Chapter 7

Aboard the GX1

All the
vehicles were allowed through the energy screen one by one until
only vehicle four and vehicle six remained, and Kruger watched them
on the screens in the vehicle being examined and searched, before
being allowed to drive into the GX1.

Hundreds of
engineers and military robustly examined the vehicles and men, and
Kruger noted all the vehicles had two or three people aboard, who
were familiar, even though he could not fully recognize them, and
he wondered if he had been chosen for special treatment, as they
had the same vehicle as vehicle six, and they had been the second
last to be taken aboard.

He even forgot
why he had wanted to come out in one of the vehicles in the first
place. What time would it be before he got back to his quarters? He
could not sleep here.

When they
finally got the signal to proceed he had almost dozed off, and he
soon woke.

A slight haze
could be seen in the energy shield if you looked closely at it in
places, if you searched for it, and he saw that there was now
another screen going behind the vehicle, which joined to the front
screen further up, like a bubble of energy around them, stopping
anything else getting in, and Kruger knew that they, the vehicle,
and everything in the bubble was being scanned to a degree that
would not allow anything to enter undetected. The makers of it had
gone to incredible lengths to secure the safety of them and the
ship.

The front
screen, in front of them, was soon removed and they got the signal
to move up to the spacecraft, and as they left the screen behind
them shifted in and formed the normal screen again.

The people at
the spacecraft took them aboard, and into the immense vehicle
center, where thousands of vehicles were stored, and began their
search and investigation.

The thing that
started interesting him was their acceptance of Dan as being part
of the crew, and he withheld what had happened, and what their
suspicions were, until he was not there.

He also wanted
to see if they found anything unusual about him, without him
affecting the investigation.

After an hour
of intense searching, and medical examinations, and every form of
screening they were released into the food recreation center, where
he and the other two astronauts were given their meals.

Now that he
was inside, and Dan had been examined, he started to become more
and more interested in him, and he decided to watch him, and study
everything he did and said, and carry out an investigation of him.
If he really was his brother he should have information about him
in his quarters. There must be pictures of him somewhere! Major
Ripley now accepted him, as he had passed all the examinations, and
only had the fact that he had not remembered him being there, in
the first place.

The sixth
vehicle had also started to intrigue him, and when he had finished
he joined the other two when they returned to the vehicle center,
just as the sixth vehicle arrived into the spacecraft, and the
spacecraft closed.

They stood on
an upper platform overlooking the vehicles, and section where they
were carrying out the vehicle investigations.

Kruger felt
normal again after the great meal and having a proper air supply,
and being in a properly lighted space and being allowed to move
around freely again.

For a few
seconds he sat confused when someone nearby mentioned his name, and
at the same time he saw someone was communicating with the people
in vehicle six, before they opened the entrance.

Just as the
doors were being opened someone came over and informed him and Dan
that Colonel Pratt had asked to see them, and wished to talk to
them about urgent business.

As they were
marched down and over to the sixth vehicle he started to see
people’s surprised expressions, and that they were baffled about
something.

At the
approach to the sixth vehicle he watched the back of an astronaut
that had come out the vehicle, and he watched him remove his
helmet, and was startled when the figure turned in his direction,
and stared over, looking directly at him, and he saw that he looked
identical to him, and Dan, and he realized there was another twin,
and he watched him gag when he looked at Dan.

Chapter 8

Another Twin
Appears

Colonel
Pratt
sat in the GX1
control center listening to
the others discussing different situations, and he heard an
occasional mention of his problem.

He could not
realize if things were worse of better than before. Even though
they had checked all the vehicles and men in them, there was
nothing there, and any indication that anything illegal had taken
place. Yet at least they had checked everything, and what they
think took place might not have taken place, which still left him
back at square one. What had happened out there?

The situation
was worse in confusion, and he and everyone else had been left
stunned, without any proper theories, or anything that they could
say without coming out with some crazy notion, which they would be
laughed at for.

The sixth
vehicle had to have another twin of Kruger!

What really
confused things was not only was there not any information
available on all the vehicle people, there was no information from
anyone on them knowing them.

Someone had
clearly done something to remove everyone’s memory of them. He
could barely even remember seeing Kruger, never mind his two
twins.

After hours of
interrogation with Don Kruger, the twin in the sixth vehicle, they
had only come up with he was virtual identical to Kruger. Yet they
thought he had something hidden, which he seemed amused at, which
he refused to give them anything on, and suggested that it was for
their own good.

The three were
being kept with guards wherever they went, and their quarters were
being guarded when they were in them.

The craziest
thing though was both of the twins never had any quarters, and they
had to be provided for them, and they claimed that they had lost
their memories about them, and, of course, there was no recorded
information about them, or what their professions or past lives had
been.

In fact, he
would say that they had not been on the ship, but they had to have
been somewhere. So they had to have been hidden away, which would
have been easy to do on a ship of its size. Or they could have been
at another sector, and not been in contact with anything at this
section of the ship.

If they could
be sure that not everyone aboard had their memories affected they
could put out photos of them for anyone to give them anything
on.

What were they
up to? Did they actually have anything? What else could have
occurred?

They really
only had the crime of computer record damage! Yet the crime of
erasing everyone’s memories might be the first of its kind in that
fashion.

The case was
keeping him awake, and he had become obsessed with thinking of it,
and the others looked as if they were ready to start cracking jokes
about.

The incredible
thing about the sixth vehicle had been how identical it was to the
fourth vehicle. It had dents and scratches identical to the other.
Yet all the information on the computers in it had been tampered
with, and information was missing, which looked to him as though
Don Kruger had done it before his arrival at the ship. It was not
actually a crime, but it had to be reprogrammed, because of the
missing information, and he had given little information about it,
and that he might have done it by accident after the crash.

He was
covering stuff, and looked like he had not lost his memory as much
as everyone else.

At least they
had profited from the episode by gaining an extra expensive
vehicle, advanced and with new technology for the GX1, which must
be of worth great deal, and have cost them a great deal of money to
get, and he was sure it contained confidential technology too,
which was a suggestion of another crime, if they had bought it by
illegal means.

What they were
after had to be of great value, and it left another mystery of who
was in it with them.

Don reacted
like they had not done anything really illegal, and Kruger as
though he was innocent of everything, which he was sure he was, and
he had provided ever piece of information that they had asked for,
and had his quarters, which they had checked and found nothing but
information showing his identity, and Major Ripley and others knew
him, but gave claims of not knowing or properly knowing Dan Kruger,
which could have been done by their losing their memories
though.

Carl Kruger
could have been their dupe, and they had chosen him as the best
caudate in the vehicles, and they would have to have altered their
appearances to him, if that was possible. Perhaps because of his
silence and keeping to himself, he might have been the person least
likely to let anything out on anything.

However, as he
started to consider this fact in more detail, a document was
delivered to his computer, from the medic who had examined them
all, and he read through it swiftly, staggered at what they had
found out about the three, and that they were more than twins.
Twins had differences between them, and they never. All three were
identical, as though they were the same person, but for the slight
fact that Dan and Don were both slightly older.

Chapter 9

A Blonde
Surprise

Kruger rushed
to the door of his quarters, and was surprised to find a beautiful
blonde woman standing outside.

At first he
thought she was there for more questionings, but was amazed that
she actually knew him. Yet he realized he did not recognize her,
but he that knew he had forgotten things about her.

She quickly
told him, “We were supposed to go out today! To the bar! Don’t you
remember?”

Kruger gasped,
and he realized the awkward situation and future situations he
could end up in, and tried to remember everything he could as fast
as he could, but it was useless.