The Spolding Conundrum by Tony Harmsworth

Author:Tony Harmsworth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harmsworth.net
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

18 Horrific Discovery

The first view was from one of the cameras on the top of a tank.

In the distance was a second tank, partially hidden by a rise in the coastal headland. Between the camera and the second tank, two Rimors were parked on the beach, well clear of the water. Beside one we could see a cache tent, similar to the one, or possibly identical to the actual one, we had set up during our Haven visit.

‘What’s that on the beach to the left of the closest Rimor?’ I asked, pointing at a dark object.

‘There must be more than one camera,’ said Tosh. He ran his fingers over the lower part of his console and a second camera image sprang into life. The objects on the beach were suddenly identifiable. ‘Noooooo!’ he shouted.

We were all immediately in shock. There, beside the nearest Rimor were four astronauts, three prone on the beach and one crumpled at the bottom of the Rimor steps. ‘They’re all dead!’ said Anna.

‘Can you zoom in at all?’ I asked.

‘Give me a second,’ said Tosh, and we watched the image gradually enlarge.

There, in full view, was my body, dead and blackening, blood having flooded from my mouth and congealed over my face. Behind me was Tosh. Another, looking very much like Penny, was partially facing the camera from a position which indicated she’d been climbing the steps back into the Rimor. A fourth body, large, but unable to be identified as it was face down, looked vaguely like Bill. The Rimor door was open. The second Rimor was sealed.

We were dumbfounded, and those of us who were seeing ourselves dead on the beach were in deep shock.

I snapped back into commander mode and said, ‘Call Spirit on the main Rimor channel.’

‘Spirit, come in, please. This is Tosh calling Spirit,’ said Tosh, seemingly unable to take his eyes off the bodies on the beach.

He managed to repeat the message twice before there were two almost simultaneous replies.

‘You’re alive! How?’ came Anna’s voice and, separately, ‘What’s going on?’ from Mary.

I took the microphone. ‘Don’t want to scare you guys, but we are also a Spirit crew from a parallel universe.’

‘Mark!’ both shouted together. ‘You’re alive.’

‘What’s happening?’ asked Mary. ‘What the hell do you mean about parallel universes.’

‘Not easy to explain,’ I said. ‘I’ll let Terry do it, he’s here with us, but first, what’s going on here? We can see at least four dead on the surface and two Rimors on the beach.’

‘I’m in one,’ said Anna.

‘Don’t open the hatch,’ said our Anna.

‘Is that me?’ Anna-two asked.

I guessed it would be simplest for me to let them know who was in our ship. ‘Yes, it is our Anna. I also have Tosh, Bill, Chi Wang, and Terry Bairstow with me. Our Mary’s on Earth working on the parallel universe problem. For now, we need to know your situation, because we already know about the deadly weed on Haven.’

‘Haven? We also called it Haven,’ said Anna-two.

‘I think it was me who suggested it,’ said Anna-one.

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