Authors: Albert Ball
Within only seconds of being discovered Knight was alone, not knowing what to do and his heart pounding like a hammer in his chest. His instincts told him to retreat but something stopped him. If he went now he would probably never know the outcome of his discovery. If he could stand to wait he would at least see what would happen. Once again Sharma helped him in his dilemma, a dependable source of reassurance, taking away the element of urgency.
"Don't panic Damian, my hand is on the cable control, you'll be out of there in a second if you give the word. Hang on as long as you can, maybe nothing else will happen."
"OK Cyrus, I'll be all right. I'll set the camera to wide angle, if you see something before I do you can let me know or pull me out if it looks dangerous." Try as he might he could not keep a distinct tremor from his voice. He was scared and felt sure that everyone would know it. He fixed his eyes on the opening where the aliens had disappeared, occasionally glancing briefly away for signs of activity from any other direction.
Five minutes passed. It seemed like a lifetime. Gradually his heart slowed. Perhaps Sharma was right, perhaps nothing more would happen. After ten minutes he was feeling quite calm again and began to take some measurements of pressure, temperature, light composition and so on, and to pan the camera over the inner surface as originally intended. Periodically he paused to study the opening, but he became convinced that he had seen the last of the timid aliens. He was about to check the atmosphere when a flash of colour set his heart racing again and brought his fear back in full force. Something was happening, there was a movement on the inside of the opening but he could not yet make out any details.
"Watch the opening Damian, something's happening there." Sharma had seen it as well. That was a
comfort;
he would be ready to
pull
him out at a moment's notice if the need arose.
A few seconds later out stepped a different type of alien. It was much larger than the others and dull red in colour. It was still similar in general appearance but the rear legs were much bigger in relation to the rest of its body than the ot
hers and it appeared about two
metres tall. This creature was not timid.
It strode out on its powerful legs and was followed closely by the yellow ones which jumped about excitedly. No sound was made that Knight could detect, except for the soft pad, pad, of the large creature's feet as it moved along. He kept the camera trained squarely on this new arrival. If it made any sudden move or threatened in any way Knight wanted Sharma to see it and get him out.
Luckily it was not armed, or at least there was no sign of any weapons. It wore no apparent clothing, and what served as its hands were empty. Slowly the creature circled him, stopping every now and then to study him from various angles. A silent order must have been given for three of the small yellow creatures looked sharply at their leader then raced back to the opening. They reappeared a few seconds later, carrying what looked like a small lifebelt. They took it over to the red alien and proceeded to put it over its head, now bent forward to allow them to reach. Then, to Knight's amazement, the creature floated away from the surface and up towards the inner edge of the liquid skin. It continued circling as it rose, observing all it could. When level with Knight it approached slowly and cautiously, watching all the time.
Knight pointed the camera steadily at the
creature;
he was feeling none too happy about this encounter. There was no reason to suspect hostility, as yet only curiosity had been evident and that was entirely reasonable in the circumstances. Its face was clearly visible now, two great eyes set close together and completely black. There were no visible ears or mouth, but there was a small protrusion where the nose should have been. Its appearance was not unpleasant taken altogether. It wore a rather surprised expression, somewhat like a bushbaby, which Knight found a little comical.
"Say the word and your out
,"
said Sharma, none too confident himself.
"Wait a bit, but be ready," replied Knight steadily. The tables were well and truly turned. The investigator was under investigation, the observer observed. The creature made no sudden movements, but slowly and continuously came close
r
and closer. Knight realised that it would not be able to see his face because of the reflective coating on his helmet, and was aware that he must present a peculiar sight indeed. The creature was directly in front of him now and stared right into his helmet. The situation sudde
nly struck Knight as very funny, t
his odd but friendly looking creature peering in at him, cautious but inquisitive. He had an urge to extend a hand, as one may do to a friendly dog, but resisted.
The creature gently touched his arm, perhaps examining the texture of his suit, and Knight was allowed a close view of the hands on each of its forelimbs. The front ones were muscular but the others very delicate. Several multi-jointed fingers extended from hemispherical pads on each hand, each finger apparently able to move to any position on the pad.
It worked its way all over his suit and equipment, feeling, studying, questioning. Knight found the experience a little embarrassing, but did not feel that he was in any danger. He responded by slowly extending a hand towards the creature. As he touched one of its arms it stiffened and stopped moving momentarily, then peered again into the helmet as if trying to see the controller of this peculiar body. It allowed him to run his hands over its arms and side. Knight had little sensation through his thick gloves, but the impression was of a hard body, much harder than human flesh. It was difficult to tell whether what he could see was really skin, or some form of short fur, scales, feathers or other covering.
Its movements were very fluid, whatever it was that served as a skeleto
n must have been well covered by
whatever it was that served as flesh. It resumed its examination of its visitor, now oblivious to Knight's attention to its own body. At one point it had one of its arms across his chest and another round his back, and Knight had the distressing thought that if he was pulled out now the creature would come with him, and to its death. He began to feel acutely
uneasy;
as long as it was holding him like this he was effectively trapped. It was not deliberate he felt sure, in fact if the creature was aware of this possibility it would surely release him for the sake of its own safety. He was about to mention this to Sharma when without any warning the creature lifted him up, the sudden and unexpected force making him breathe out involuntarily.
It was too late. If only he had been quick-witted enough to have foreseen this. The creature had deftly lifted him to release the tension on the cable that was holding him then detached it from his suit leaving him completely helpless. And now he was being taken gently down to the inner surface below, and to what else he dare not guess.
14
I
nside
P
leiades
Security had relaxed considerably since the probes had reached the alien vessel and shown it to be devoid of any external weaponry. Naganda knew that it was prudent to make the results of further investigations public, feeling that if he maintained a blanket of secrecy any one of a dozen governments might well send up their own investigating craft, the inevitable lack of co-ordination leading to disaster. This way he was assured the first look at whatever was seen, and retained the option to suspend retransmission to the rest of the world if he wished.
Naganda's manner left no-one in any doubt as to who was in command of this mission. He had supplied the ferry and also Cyrus Sharma, a highly experienced and competent astronaut, but more importantly it was he who was footing the bill. Damian Knight was a member of the WSA data acquisition staff, and Lincoln's choice for second man. He was young and sometimes inclined to put satisfaction of curiosity before observation of personal safety procedures, but he had that indefinable spark of intuition, a man whose instincts could often be trusted in unusual circumstances, who could make the mental leap from a complex problem to a workable solution without, at least consciously, the intervening process of logical deduction.
Naganda's security arrangements were still in use for the ship
to
earth communications, but now they were received at the WSA flight control centre. The military aura had been dropped and the conditions were much more comfortable than those at Pangani military base. A ten-minute delay was allowed between reception at the WSA and retransmission, the only people seeing the primary signal being the WSA senior staff, Naganda and his advisers, and a few selected personnel from the WSA Tactics Division. The remainder of the WSA staff and the world at large saw the delayed transmission.
It was unfortunate that more of the tacticians were not included in the primary group as the cable detaching incident would have been avoided. As it was everyone was caught out just as Knight was. No-one in a position to give a warning realised what was happening until it was too late.
U
nlike Knight
though
,
they did not have to suffer the consequences of their lack of foresight. Their shame was compounded when only a minute after the break an urgent call came in from the
outside tacticians
recommending that the alien not be allowed to get too close lest it tamper with the cable.
Naganda decided against any form of intervention in the relayed transmission.
"The facility is there for security purposes
,"
he explained bluntly to one of his argumentative advisers, "not to cover up our own stupidity. Time enough for recriminations later
,"
he added, addressing everyone in the room, "our immediate task is to decide what to do now." Then, addressing Lincoln he asked
,
"How long can he last?"
"Oh
...
,
er...
, he has a ten-hour supply of air in his suit
,"
responded Lincoln slowly, still affected by the shock of what had happened. Then forcing his fears into the background he continued
,
"
o
f
which not more than an hour should have been used up. I don't think the aliens will deliberately do him any harm but they may well accidentally damage the suit or try to dismantle it, in which case we must assume he will die immediately
. I
t's a very faint hope that the atmosphere will be breathable. I would make one strong suggestion though, let's bring in the rest of the tacticians, they're a bright bunch and should have some useful ideas."
Naganda approved so they were brought in and briefed on the situation. To their credit none made any 'told-you-so' remarks, though Lincoln wondered how many were severely tempted. He stressed the need to avoid any hostile action. Everything within reason should be done to preserve Knight's life, he explained, but if the choice lay between offensive action and sacrificing Knight than the sacrifice would be made.
The assembly fell silent, thinking over the problem. After a while one of the tacticians found the courage to speak up.
"Can I perhaps make an observation
?"
he began diffidently. "The floor's yours son
,"
encouraged Naganda. "Well it seems to me that the problem is not so much that of rescuing Knight since he hasn't been captured in the usual sense.
It's more one of informing the aliens of Knight's vulnerability." His voice gathered strength as he elucidated his thoughts. "If they intend to harm him then we are powerless to stop them. But if as seems more likely they are merely curious then we need only bring to their attention the harm they might do accidentally. They are highly intelligent beings who will probably know all the likely dangers anyway, but for pessimism we have to assume not. Knight himself will be most aware of his vulnerability so he will resist any attempt to tamper with his air supply or the integrity of his suit, and that should communicate the necessary information. But on the other hand he may become incapacitated and therefore unable to offer any resistance."
"What's your idea
?
"
asked Naganda, showing a little impatience at this lecture in what he probably considered the obvious.
"Well our only viable resources are on the ferry itself. I suggest that Sharma leave the ferry and lower himself down to the alien vessel. He can rig up a relay system to control the safety cable from his position outside the ferry. Then, once inside, he can use a loudspeaker to give the information, we know that they understand English."
Naganda looked at his chief engineer. "Can that be done
-
control the cable from outside the ferry?"
"The entire ferry can be controlled from outside
,"
she explained, "he only needs a link to the computer, and once preset from inside it will respond to signals originating from outside either by radio or via the cable."
"OK but I'm not happy about conveying the information to the aliens once inside their ship
,"
broke in Khan, "we assume they understand English from their first transmission but we've heard none since, and they haven't responded to any of our communications. I wonder, is there some more positive way of explaining the dangers to them?"