That Man on Beta by Addison E. Steele

Author:Addison E. Steele [Steele, Addison E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 0440109485
Publisher: Dell Books
Published: 1979-01-07T19:04:30+00:00

E L E V E N

Wilma Deering lay semi-conscious on the soft bed in her locked room. Her eyes were closed and images flitted through her brain. Recollections of her girlhood in the Inner City of Earth. School days, school friends, girlhood romances, her sensitivity testing and the gasps of admiration and envy from her companions when she was invited to apply for defense squadron flight training.

Her early career, combat missions, training duty, the startling speed of her rise through the ranks.

Her first encounter with Captain Buck Rogers, her overwhelming feelings for him, and—now she had learned of her strange rivalry with the Draconian crown princess Ardala.

Everything, everything. Faces floating before her in mists. Buck. Kane. Dr. Huer. Professor Von Norbert. Draco himself. Ardala. And a voice, a voice whispering in her ear. I am your friend. The Draconians are your friends. Buck Rogers is your . . . enemy.

Suddenly someone was shaking her. She opened her eyes. A man was looming above her, his face peering deeply into her own. And, strangely, a flickering, glowing parody of a second face hanging from his neck.

The man was speaking. “Wilma! Wilma! You’ve got to wake up!”

Wilma raised a hand, brushed a lock of hair away from her face. “Who—what—wait, I can’t . . . who is it?”

“It’s me,” the man said, “Buck.”

Suddenly Wilma was wide awake—alarmed and angry. This was the enemy! She leaped to her feet, snarled at him. “Get away from me!”

“Wilma! It’s me. Buck.”

“I’ll kill you if you come any closer,” she growled.

“Hey,” Buck exclaimed, “snap out of it, I’m your friend.”

“You’re my enemy,” Wilma spat.

“Hey, come on, we gotta get out of here!” He grabbed her to hustle her out of the room—if need be, to carry her. She resisted, and for the second time in as many minutes Buck found himself engaged in a desperate wrestling match.

As they struggled and rolled around the room, Buck managed to gasp at Wilma, “Come on, cut it out, we don’t have time to play games. The professor’s gonna find us.”

“I’ll kill you,” Wilma reiterated, “the professor is my friend.”

Buck broke Wilma’s hold on him, tried once more to drag her to her feet and hustle her out of the room. Instead she planted her teeth deep in the muscle of his shoulder. He yelled, jerked away, shot a desperate request to Theopolis: “Hey, what’s the matter with Wilma, Theo? Can you take a quick scan on her and figure it out?”

Wilma tried again to get her teeth into Buck. This time he was faced with the need of trying to keep her from escaping and at the same time prevent her from getting her teeth anywhere near his flesh. Dr. Theopolis was pinned between their bodies; his arrays of lights blinked on and off as his scanners analyzed Wilma’s condition.

“She seems to be infected with a mind-distorting drug,” he gritted. “She must have been brainwashed with the aid of the drug, Buck, so she really believes you’re her enemy!”

“Oh, no! You mean she doesn’t even want to be rescued, Theo!”

“Precisely.

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