Return From Omina by Roland Starr

Author:Roland Starr [Starr, Roland]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Venture
Published: 2017-08-23T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER VIII

When they reached the immobiliser, Vonner peered at the scanner screen on the equipment attached to it and saw the interior of Bardo’s room. Bardo was stretched out upon his bunk, still in the motionless position he had been in when the immobiliser had first been brought into operation.

“He looks peaceful enough!” Curran commented sourly. “What can we do about him?”

“Wayland mentioned something that might work,” Vonner replied slowly. “Does Bardo need air now?”

“And if he does we can cut off the supply!” Excitement tinged Curran’s low tones. “You’d better check that out with the Doc, Captain!”

“Let’s check the graphs on the recorder here to see if there was any fluctuation in the power while Bardo’s image was at work up in the communications storeroom,” Vonner said. He waited while Curran opened the recorder and examined the graph patterns.

“There’s nothing here, no surges that would denote activity, nothing at all!” Disappointment sounded in Curran’s harsh voice. “But the laser destroyed whatever it was up in that doorway, Captain. I suggest we equip a number of my guards with lasers and position them throughout the ship at strategic points, with orders to cut down any image of Bardo that materialises.”

“We can’t have trigger-happy guards firing off lasers all over the ship!” Vonner shook his head, his eyes hard and glinting as he considered all possibilities. “This could be what Bardo wants! We could destroy the ship ourselves, especially if there was panic among the crew.”

“Check with the Doc!” Curran urged. “If we can cut off Bardo’s air then the sooner the better! We’re going to be at grave risk while he’s aboard the ship.”

Vonner nodded and started towards the doctor’s office, but one of the guards watching the immobiliser called to him, and indicated the open line on the communicator.

“There’s a message for you, Captain. It’s control room on the other end!”

Vonner moistened his lips as he went to the communicator, and when he gave his identity Hanton spoke quickly. The new First Officer’s voice was filled with suppressed excitement.

“Captain, we have the ship orbiting Uralis Digis on the scanners again. It’s almost exactly an hour since it vanished from our screens. If it remains in orbit then in about twelve hours we should be close enough to be able to scan its interior. We’ll be able to discover if there is life aboard.”

“Thank you,” Vonner replied. “Maintain Alert! I’ll be with you shortly, Commander!”

He went on to the sickbay office, finding Adah Morley there, and quickly acquainted her with the latest development in Bardo’s condition. He saw her face losing colour as he explained, and there was a chill sensation in the pit of his stomach as he continued.

“So I figure the easiest way out, if it is at all possible, is to deprive Bardo of life support. If it kills him then the emergency is over!”

“I can’t advise you over this,” she replied without hesitation. “But we can check on Bardo’s condition. I can

connect sensors to the immobiliser

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