To The Stars (The Harry Irons Trilogy) (23 page)

"Yes, I think so."

"Okay, good." She pointed to a hatch in the ceiling, apparently the only other way off the bridge. "Let's see what's behind that hatch."

This time, Harry quickly located the correct button and pressed it. Silently, the hatch slid open, revealing a dimly lit room beyond. Faint light came from bulges in the wall. Doris entered first and floated to the nearest bulge.

She leaned closer for a better look. Over the bulge, the wall was opaque. Light flickered as if something moved inside. What looked like tiny, ridged seams ran the length of the bulge from floor to ceiling. An excreted mucus oozed from the fissures. Harry stood behind, cautiously watching.

"What is that?"

Inside her suit, Doris shrugged.

As they watched, more mucus oozed and the seam slowly began to part. Harry put a hand on Doris' shoulder and another on the opposite wall to steady himself. The slimy stuff clung to his gloved hand. For a moment he silently looked at the mucilaginous material sticking to his glove.

He stretched out his hand so Doris could see the material on his glove, but she didn't see. Her eyes were on the opening seam in the wall. She drew away and watched with growing horror.

An appendage with joints like a human arm snaked its way out of the seam, the sticky resin covering it. With a three-fingered, taloned hand, it gripped the side of the seam and began to pull itself through as if in birth. Doris tried to scramble back but only succeeded in pinning Harry between herself and the opposite bulkhead. The creature was halfway out and stared at them with three large unblinking eyes.

The large, sloping, bullet-shaped head turned in Harry's direction and it worked its odd, mandibled lower jaw. As they stared, the creature opened its mouth and screamed in a high pitched shriek.

Without any further warning, it burst from the wall and landed on top of Doris. She reacted immediately and easily threw the creature aside. It was less than average size for a human and Doris was a strong woman, it was no problem for her. It quickly jumped to the control panel, pressed a button, and squeezed through another seam as Harry and Doris gaped at its retreating form.

For a moment, they lay in the darkened corridor, breathing heavily. The entire incident had taken no more than a few seconds.

"Are you all right?" Doris asked.

Harry checked himself. "Yeah, I'm fine. Magellan, did you pick that up?" There was no reply.

Doris looked at him, "Let's get out of here."

"You don't have to ask me twice," he said as he led the way back up the corridor. Doris rose and started to follow. Upon hearing a sucking sound from behind, she hesitated, then turned to look. The creature, or something else, was coming back out.

In the darkened hallway, she cried out and Harry stopped. He turned in time to see Doris impaled on the taloned arm of a different sort of creature. It was much larger than the first and, although the basic body structure was similar, this creature looked much hardier and fiercer. Hard, shiny plates covered its rounded frame, its long, dangling arms ended in three-inch talons. It seemed to have no eyes, only a darkened window atop its round body. As it moved, the plates shifted, looking something like medieval body armor. Harry stared in horror as he watched the creature pull Doris from its talons.

The thing looked directly at Harry and hissed loudly, then it took Doris by the head and dragged her limp body along as it made its escape in the opposite direction.

Harry, heart beating wildly, crossed the bridge and fairly flew through the door that led to the airlock.

*

Back on the Magellan, the crew had no idea anything was wrong. Signals from Harry and Doris had proved to be useless after entrance into the alien ship. Radio contact was likewise interfered with by the composition of the alien ship and the strong fields it generated. Fagen and the others were unaware an incident had occurred until the moment Harry emerged from the bay.

"There he is," said Nadine. In the monitors, they saw a lone figure exit the airlock. It had been eighteen minutes since Doris and Harry had entered the alien ship.

"Something's wrong," Bonner said as he watched the figure move away from the airlock. "There's only one of them. Who is it?"

"It's Irons," said Parker. "Where's Doris?"

Fagen leaned forward. "Harry, this is Fagen. Are you all right?"

The loudspeaker cracked with Harry's voice.

"Uh, we've got an emergency here."

"What's the problem, Harry?

A second passed before Harry answered. "Encounter with hostile alien. I'm headed back."

Nadine spoke, "How about Doris?"

Harry's reply came slowly. "I don't think she's alive."

In the monitors, Harry floated toward the Magellan. Behind him, the lit alien shuttle bay suddenly went dark.

"Whoops," said Bonner, "there goes the welcoming light."

Fagen unstrapped himself and floated free. "Bill, you've got the bridge. I'm going to help." Fagen departed and went below to don his environment suit. Before he had the chance, Harry reached the
Magellan's
airlock.

The commander waited as the air recycled and pressure was equalized. Disinfectants clouded the room, washing Harry's suit free from any nasty little alien microbes. When the door opened, Harry stood in front of Fagen. All he could think to say was "There was nothing I could do."

Very calmly, Fagen asked what happened to Doris. Harry took a breath and told him.

"Are you sure she was dead?"

"Man, she was impaled. Run through. She was dead all right. You can look at the recording and see for yourself."

Harry undid his bindings and shrugged off his backpack. He had a problem with one of the straps and suddenly his tension and frustration boiled over. Pulling at a buckle, the strap finally came free and Harry threw it across the room.

Fagen calmly watched. "What's the problem, Harry?"

Harry faced the commander. "What's the matter? We've lost two people already and I don't know why. I thought I knew what this was all about, but I don't."

"What are you talking about?"

"Why don't you tell me?"

"I don't understand."

"I think you do. You knew where we were headed. You've been here before, haven't you, Fagen?"

"What are you saying?"

"Oh, come off it. Somehow you manipulated the navigations and brought us here. Blane told me about the new coordinates. I saw the star map in your compartment."

"Blane is out of his mind and since when is a star map an indictment?"

"Oh, I see," snapped Harry, "you just happened to be interested in the Carina cluster, Miaplacidus, in particular. And where did you come up with the coordinates for this system? Did you just pull 'em out of your hat? Pretty lucky guess is what I'd call it. A little too lucky, if you ask me."

"I don't deny that I've been looking at maps of the Carina system, but it was only after we got here. Now whatever Blane has told you needs to be taken lightly. Blane himself doesn't know what he's talking about. He's in pretty bad shape. You saw him, you talked to him. You think he's all there?"

It made sense. Harry began to feel uncomfortable. Perhaps he had jumped to conclusions. Fagen saw Harry's growing uneasiness.

"It's okay, Harry. A lot has happened. We're all under a great deal of stress. You've performed well, but you need some rest."

Harry said nothing. He found himself wanting to believe Fagen. It was easier. And he was so tired.

"Go get some sleep, Harry. We'll talk later. Things will seem better after you've cleared your mind."

That suited Harry just fine. All he wanted to do at the moment was to lie down. He sighed and nodded. "Maybe you're right. I'm sorry, I guess I didn't know what I was talking about."

"Forget it. We're far from home with a long way to go yet."

Harry went back to his compartment feeling a little ridiculous, but also somewhat relieved. He had confronted Fagen with his suspicions and Fagen had answered with a simple explanation. How could it be anything other than what the commander had said?

Fagen lingered in the equipment compartment after Harry left. No one saw him as he removed the diskette from Harry's discarded backpack. As he slipped the diskette into his pocket, Bonner called over the ship's intercom.

"Edward? Would you come up here, please? We have some new activity."

When Fagen floated back onto the bridge, Nadine asked about Harry.

"He's all right. A little shaken up, but all right."

"What went on over there?"

"Harry says they were attacked. Doris is dead."

"Did you get Harry's diskette? We can see what happened over there."

Fagen shook his head. "The disk was damaged, it's useless. What's the status here?"

"Status?" Bonner shook his head. "The alien ship has moved away and turned off its running lights. I suggest we back away a few thousand meters or so and watch."

"All right, let's move. Keep the recorders going."

Nadine sat at her console and shook her head. "I can't believe this is happening. I didn't sign up for this. What good is it if we find the first extra-terrestrial intelligence in human history if none of us make it back alive? I say we get out of here now while we still have the chance."

Fagen didn't have the chance to answer. Bonner sat upright at his posi
tion. "I've got an ignition flare from the surface. Pretty far away. Looks like somebody is on their way up to say hello."

"Or some
thing
," Nadine added.

Chapter 20

The sound of chattering voices roused Kathleen. She had no idea what they said, but they seemed jolly enough. Looking around, Kathleen found it hard to believe she had passed the night sleeping on a dirt floor. She was also the last to rise.

One of the old women noticed she was awake and brought her a wooden bowl full of a pasty substance. It looked and smelled like oatmeal. Kathleen was famished. Knowing it could be poisonous, she hesitated before tasting. Gingerly, she took a small spoonful. The gruel didn't taste like oatmeal. It was fruity and not bad at all. She swallowed and waited a moment before taking another bite.

For the time being, no one paid her any attention. Just as well, she needed to get her bearings, form some kind of plan. For that, she needed time to think.

Children's voices came from outside. Their shouts and squeals gave away their mood. The women talked among themselves and laughed. Somehow, the sound of laughter relieved Kathleen. If these primitives could laugh, they couldn't be all bad. Perhaps she would survive after all.

Finishing the food, she got to her feet. The woman who gave her the bowl came back and tried to converse. She said something unintelligible and fingered Kathleen's coveralls. Kathleen realized the woman was admiring the material.

The aborigines wore very little. Loincloths covered the men. Some of the women wore skirts made from the same animal skins as the loincloths but most wore nothing at all. All of them who wore the skins, male, female, old and young, had a neat hole cut in back for their tails.

The female who admired Kathleen's clothes looked middle-aged. Unlike the men, she looked directly into Kathleen's eyes when she spoke. She said something again but Kathleen didn't have the foggiest notion what the aborigine said. Kathleen shrugged.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

She remembered she had a package of gum in her pocket and pulled the velcro fastener loose before reaching for it.

Suddenly, everyone within earshot stopped what they were doing and stared at her. Uh-oh, she thought. Slowly and without uttering a word, they drew around her.

Trying to appear casual, Kathleen fished in her pocket and found the gum. The woman came very close and inspected the velcro fasteners. She reached and pulled on Kathleen's pocket flap. It made a ripping sound and, to the Bedoran's amazement, the primitive woman discovered it bound the two pieces of cloth together.

She drew back and smiled. Then she turned away and chattered something to those gathered around. They broke out in laughter. Another woman spoke to Kathleen. Again, Kathleen shrugged. "I don't understand."

The woman pointed at Kathleen's chest.

"What is it you want?"

The first woman felt Kathleen's overall and held up an animal pelt.

It dawned on Kathleen that she was being offered a trade. The skin for the coveralls.

Kathleen started shaking her head. "No, no, these are my clothes. They wouldn't fit you anyway. Here," she said showing the package of gum, "have some gum. You'll have to divide it up." She caught the eye of a pubescent female and handed her the package. "Here, that can be your job."

The young one quickly waved her tail in thank-yous and backed away, disappearing to privacy in order to inspect the strange object.

To Kathleen's dismay, the primitive woman was insistent. After five minutes of lively exchanges, Kathleen realized she wasn't going to take no for an answer. The others seemed to enjoy the bartering process immensely. Although they had no idea of what Kathleen said, they chattered and laughed at each exchange of words. In the end, Kathleen ended up with the skin, a string of shells, and little more than a modest smile.