Lethbridge-Stewart: The Schizoid Earth by David A. McIntee

Author:David A. McIntee [McIntee, David A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Candy Jar Books
Published: 2015-09-24T14:00:00+00:00

Kyle picked up the phone on the first ring. ‘Yes?’

‘Knight here. Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart is in custody.’

‘And it’s about time. Is he conscious?’

‘No.’

Probably for the best, Kyle thought. Both for him and them. Now there was time to think. ‘Bring him to the infirmary’s secure wing. Doctor Beswick will be waiting.’

‘Yes, sir.’ She hung up. Now she could turn her attention to other duties, and catch up with some of the many jobs and situations that needed seeing to. She picked up a sketch of the Deepdene capsule and sighed. That was probably going to be the next most important job to both the director and herself, and she really would have preferred Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart’s co-operation and assistance. Still, needs must, she reflected.

When she entered the warehouse-like space that had been so recently given to Doctor Mackay, she was surprised by how much had changed. For one thing, the familiar shape of the capsule was no longer there. Instead, the bulky tweed-jacketed Scot was prowling amidst a giant jigsaw puzzle of metal. Every single piece of the capsule seemed to have been separated from every other piece, and laid out carefully on the floor. Little labels were next to each piece, from the solid door to the tiniest screw, and it was surprisingly easy to follow which bits connected to which. In essence, he had turned the capsule into a two-dimensional grid of parts, and now the mechanics and technicians she had assigned to him were studying components in microscopic detail.

They had plenty of equipment with which to do so; two walls were now lined with microscopes, spectrometers, and other measuring and analytical devices.

‘I must say,’ she began, impressed, ‘you’ve made quite remarkable – and rapid – progress.’

Mackay nodded. ‘Fortunately for us all the mechanical means of holding metal and wiring and avionics together are globally similar. Even non-standard fittings and equipment like we have there.’

‘Non-standard?’

‘Aye; such things were standardised across the globe over twenty years ago, for the sake of aviation safety, but this… Well it’s—’

‘Different.’

‘Individualistic might be a better word, but yes.’

‘Why would anyone use such non-standard… equipment?’

‘Depends who did it, I suppose. A country might do it to keep a secret, or an individual inventor might do it for reasons of vanity – so everyone would know that it was his work.’

She nodded, understanding, and walked slowly along the lines of the disassembled capsule. ‘So this is, as you say, individualistic. Not completely… alien.’ She could feel his sceptical eyes on her, and turned. ‘There are such things as space capsules.’

‘There are, but they have to be more airtight and pressurised than this. It wasn’t built by Martians, if that’s what you – or your superiors – were thinking.’

‘We weren’t thinking that, no. Not with a dead man inside.’

‘Good. This material is all terrestrial,’ Mackay said. ‘In fact, downright local; metallurgically speaking, it’s German.’

‘Could it be a part of a terrestrial space programme? A lifting body, perhaps?’

‘Maybe, but those are designed for speed, protection from atmospheric friction, and so on.

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