The Black Planet (4 page)

‘That is a very good point Tapper and I haven’t forgotten it.  As soon as we have enough information, I am going to send a complete, and as comprehensive report as I possibly can back to Earth.  This is really a military problem now and I am well out of my depth.  From this point on you and the colonel will guide me on what you both think needs done.  That means you talk to each other and discuss things before one of you come to me.  Colonel Howe, I will also expect you to lease with military authorities on Earth.  I will not accept any secretive stuff either, am I clear on that?’

‘Yes sir,’ both men answered.

‘Good in that case let’s get our teams together and find those people.’

Chapter 8

Steven led the way to a lower tier and the lights began to blink on.  Row upon row of cylinder was revealed as the lights came up.  Buzz stopped beside Steven and shook his head, ‘there's more than a thousand cylinders here Stevie.’

Steven nodded, ‘looks like it.’

‘Will they be alive?’

Steven shrugged, ‘I don’t know Buzz.’  Both seemed frightened to approach the cylinders.

‘What if they are dead Stevie?’

‘We leave nothing for these people Buzz; one way or another.’

‘They aren’t people Stevie.’

‘Figure of speech Buzz, chill man.’  He took a deep breath, ‘let’s go look.’

Amanda Freeling was walking right behind them.  When Steven and Buzz looked into the first container they went pale and seconds later they began to vomit.  She pushed past the puking men and looked inside, ‘Oh!’  Was as much as she could think of to say.  The unit was filled with body parts, including a head with no skin on the face. 

Colonel Howe looked inside and anger infused him, ‘what the hell were they doing?’

‘Experiments with different parts of the body trying to extract enzymes according to the data Babes retrieved.’  She told him offhandedly.  Howe frowned and turned away.   

Steven stood up straight, ‘Colonel take your team and go find that pod.’

‘Yes sir.’  With a wave of his hand his team followed.

There was row upon row of these ghastly cylinders.  They moved from cylinder to cylinder with a sinking feeling in their guts as they went.  All of a sudden it no longer felt like an adventure.

It didn’t take Howe long to find the pod room.  It was on the same level but down a different corridor.  Lights on a console still flashed brightly.  ‘No one touch anything,’ he warned.  ‘Babes have you ever seen one of these before?  It looks solid!’

‘It is a simple transport pod colonel, it is not self-propelled as the captain thought it might be.  It would be raised to the surface and picked up by a ship that would accelerate the pod then release it.  It would quite simply keep going until picked up on the other side of the barrier.  Once it was near its designated coordinates it would set off a homing beacon and be picked up.’

‘Simple but effective.’  Howe mused.  ‘Now how do we get into them?’

‘Mr McGuire has a cutter; they are cut and shut as you would say.’

The colonel looked round, ‘Mr McGuire, would you like to do the honours.’

‘With great pleasure Colonel.’

Matt took out his cutter and under Babes guidance began to cut open the pod.  ‘Like a hot knife through butter,’ Matt grinned.  He cut round the base first then the top as high as he could reach.  Then he cut the cylinder into panels.  When he was finished he gave the panels a bit of a bash with a hammer and the men jumped back as they fell away.  Grey internal cylinders were revealed with a glass face.  They were frosted up.  Colonel Howe moved forward and wiped the first.  It revealed the face of a man.  He wiped more of the glass.  The man was naked and looked to be asleep.  The men moved in to the other cylinders.

‘Oh Wow!’  Cookie exclaimed.

The colonel moved to his side and gave him a push, ‘stop staring Cookie.’

‘Hey, I found her.’

‘Stop clowning,’ Howe growled, ‘you have seen a naked woman before.’

‘Aye plenty, but never one that flawless.’  Cookie moved on, ‘here is another sir; same again.’

Howe joined him, ‘what do you mean Cookie?’

‘Look at them both sir; flawless, perfect.’

Howe got it, ‘god yes; the guy too looks straight out of a magazine.  Perfect specimens.  Babes said they were breeding them on their home planet, they could still be alive.  Babes how long will these units work for, are these people in suspended animation and could they still be alive?’

She answered so all the men in the room could hear, ‘those units are fairly standard throughout the universe.  They are often used if a journey is going to take years or more to reach a particular destination, they will last a hundred years before requiring maintenance.  Hold your hand up to the side panel Colonel.’  He obeyed.  It took her a few seconds.  ‘The woman in that chamber is still alive.’

Cookie had moved on and suddenly burst out laughing, ‘you have to see this sir.’  Cookie wiped that last of the frost away with a sleeve.

Howe caught up with him and his jaw dropped, ‘oh you have to be shitting me!’ 

Cookie burst out laughing, ‘he looks pissed doesn’t he?’

Howe suddenly grinned, ‘he does doesn’t he.  I will call the captain.’

Ten minutes later a very pale Steven arrived, his colour began to return as he stared in at the figure within the glass in wonder, ‘wow, he looks pissed.’  The men all laughed.

Howe was grinning, ‘he was the only one dressed; the rest are all naked; men and women and even number, four of each. I would describe them as perfect specimens of humanity; then there is this guy.’

Steven reached up and ran his fingers over the thick glass like surface, ‘he cracked the glass, another layer has been welded on top.  That is an American uniform isn’t it colonel?’

‘Yes sir, I would say his smock is late forties, fifty’s era.  The shirt underneath I would say was older; Second World War and if you come to the side you can just see ribbons on the shirt.’

Steven did as bid and squinted, ‘that’s a lot of medals colonel; do you recognise any of them?’

‘Medal of honour, Normandy, purple heart, looks like campaign medals mostly; can’t really say for sure.’

‘He is a big fella, it looks like he was a wake when he was stuffed in here.’  Inside the cylinder stood a soldier dressed in full battle regalia with a snarl of hatred on his face.  ‘He is obviously a sergeant; do you know what regiment colonel?’

‘1
st
Infantry division sir.  What do you want to do sir?’

‘I want to wake him up and find out what the hell happened.  By the looks of it he will be far more compos-mentis than any of the others.’

Howe scratched his head and grinned, ‘I can’t fault you on that assumption sir, but I think we had better all stand back.’

Steven ran his eye over Howe, ‘you still have your uniform don’t you colonel?’

‘You mean my combat uniform sir?’

‘Yes.’

‘You think it might be better if he is greeted by someone in a uniform he can recognise sir?’

Steven nodded, ‘he might not recognise the uniform straight off colonel but I don’t think badges of ranks and things like that have changed much since his days.’

‘They haven’t at all sir.’

‘Then go get changed please.’

Half an hour later Steven began the sequence that would release the mad looking sergeant from his prison.  Steven expected the man to collapse in a heap after being in stasis for so long.  He couldn’t have been more wrong.  With a mighty roar the sergeant burst free from the unit.   Steven was forced to duck as the glass door went flying and the sergeant came leaping out.

‘You dirty stinking rotten…’

Howe’s voice snapped with authority, ‘front and centre sergeant.’

The man froze for a second his eyes sweeping the room.  They lingered for a moment on the collar of Howe’s uniform and he suddenly snapped to attention.  Steven moved forward to quickly reaching out with his hand, ‘good afternoon sergeant, my name is.’

Before Steven could react the man had grabbed Stevens arm and pulled.  Steven found himself in a vice like grip.  The sergeant tore Steven’s sidearm free and pressed it into the side of his head.  He nodded to Howe, ‘you might have the stars of a full bird colonel, but you ain't wearing any damn uniform I recognise sir; now I had better get an explanation quick before I blow this little guys head off.’

Howe’s eyes turned cold and his own pistol whipped from its holster, ‘let the captain go sergeant.’

Before the situation could escalate Steven reached up and gripped the sergeant’s pistol arm.  With the precision of a surgeon he pinched a spot on the sergeant’s arm and the arm went limp dropping the pistol; before the soldier could react, Steven had thrown him across the room.  He crashed to a halt against some computer banks. 

Howe covered the man, ‘don’t move sergeant, it would be a pity for you to have gone through all the shit you obviously have in your life to end up being killed by your rescuers.’

The sergeant sat up holding his arm.  Steven stooped and picked up his pistol.  Rubbing his throat for a moment he turned his attention to the sergeant, ‘well that wasn’t pleasant.’  He help up his pistol, ‘thing is sergeant, this isn’t a firearm.  Even if you found the safety it was set to stun.  You might have cooked my brain a little but you wouldn’t have blown it out around the room. ‘

The sergeant rubbed his arm suspiciously finally coming to rest on Howe, ‘I recognise your stars boy, but that ain't no American uniform that I've ever seen.’

Howe took off his cap and wiped his brow, ‘no I don’t suppose it is sergeant but if you call me boy again I will kick your arse from here into the middle of next week.’

Steven decided to intervene, ‘sergeant my name is Steven Gordon, I am in command here.  This is a civilian operation however these men are all military men who serve under me as part of my team.  They provide any military expertise and muscle if need be during our exploration.  We would like to know how you got here and the circumstances leading you to be shoved into that chamber there?’

The sergeant waved his arm a little as the feeling began to return, ‘329714 sergeant Kelly.’

‘Ach jist leave the daft bugger,’ suggested Cookie.

‘Can it Cookie,’ Howe growled but Cookie just grinned.

Steven shook his head, ‘this is no good.  Colonel put your weapon down.  No in fact, please hand it to the sergeant.’

‘Excuse me sir! Is that wise?’

‘Sergeant Kelly here obviously doesn’t trust us.  I bet he has been a soldier so long he feels pretty vulnerable without a weapon in his hands.  I am quite sure that the sergeant is also aware of his own abilities.’

‘Sir if he decides to shoot, half of us will be dead before we can kill him.’  Howe interrupted.

‘That’s pretty much how I see it colonel and we really don’t have the time, nor do I have the inclination to prattle about playing games.  He will either trust us or he won’t, it is his choice.  Now pass him the bloody weapon.’

With a frustrated sigh the colonel went over and held out the pistol the 1911 pattern pistol.  The sergeant almost snatched it out of his hand.  He inspected the weapon closely while keeping an eye on the men gathered.  Then he ejected a round and inspected it.  Steven noticed a small smile play on the man’s lips for a second.  He ejected the magazine, flipped out a few rounds and inspected them.  Then he recharged the magazine and replaced it; eased the hammer down and shoved it in his pocket.  ‘Can I keep this for a while sir?’

Howe frowned, ‘for a little while sergeant but that’s my personnel weapon, it has a return spring.’

The sergeant grinned and got comfortable on the floor.  His eyes found Stevens, ‘what is it you want to know sir?’

‘Just what happened to you sergeant; or at least what you can remember?’

‘Can you tell me where I am first?’

Steven sucked his breath through his teeth, ‘that might be a little hard for you to digest straight away sergeant; I would like to know what you can remember first before you start freaking out on me.’

The reclining man frowned, he didn’t recognise the word but he got the jist of was Steven was saying.  He leaned back, ‘ain't much to tell really, we were on top of a hill in Korea.  My platoon was ordered to hold the commies back as the rest of the regiment retreated.  We were quickly surrounded but managed to hold out for about three days.  We ran out of ammo food and water,’ he shrugged, ‘not that it mattered.  The platoon by that time was reduced to about eight effectives and a dozen wounded.  Still those that could hold a weapon did.  We decided to stay as there wasn’t enough of us to carry out the wounded.’  He shook his head, ‘it was hopeless really but we were prepared to fight with what little we had left.  The next thing I know there was a real bright light.  I woke up strapped like a pieces of meat to some kind of metal table.  I heard a man scream, it was one of my wounded men.  I looked over and saw some kind of creature cut off his wounded arm with a strange thin blue wire of some kind.’  The look on his face darkened, ‘then they opened him up with it and began, uh!’ The sergeant hesitated, ‘well they killed him anyway.  I managed to break free from my bonds.  They had taken my weapons but missed a combat knife I kept in my boots.  I killed a few of them and managed to release a couple of my men before there was another bright flash.  Next thing I know I'm in that thing and some creature is telling me that I being sent to his home world; that his military were interested in doing experiments with me.  I tried to bust out and here I am.  Now what the hell is going on, where the hell am I?’

‘It might be easier to explain if we just show you sergeant.’  Steven concentrated, ‘Lewis can you find me but return to the first ship and bring your spacesuit will you.’  The sergeant frowned but kept his mouth shut.  ‘One of my men is coming down here.  Accompany him, he will explain it all to you.  Now Lewis has a habit of taking people by surprise, please don’t shoot him.’