ANOMALY
Eagle Two broke the seal with the alien spaceship. Maneuvering thrusters fired and the craft pushed away until completely clear of the vessel that now orbited the moon. At that point the main engines kicked in and Eagle Two began the return trip to Alpha, slowly losing altitude and drifting down over the rim of the crater that served as home to moon base.
In the passenger module Dr. Helena Russell stood alongside the gurney were her unconscious patient lay: the woman found on the floor of the derelict ship's bridge. The security guards who had been a part of the boarding party sat nearby keeping a cautious eye on that patient.
Helena raised her Commlock and, after a sharp click, the face of Dr. Mathias appeared on the tiny view screen.
"Bob, prepare Medical for one patient. From what I can see, she is a human female approximately thirty years old, but I don't have detailed scanning equipment with me."
"Understood. What is her condition?"
"Unconscious. The reason has not yet been determined. The only visible injury is a small matting of blood on the back of her head, most likely caused by a fall. Other than that…I do not see any physical trauma."
"We'll be ready."
Helena switched off the Commlock, gazed at her patient, and sighed.
Ed Davis had piloted Eagle Two to the ship and he piloted it on the return trip as well. However he had exchanged passenger manifests with Eagle One. Carter, Bergman, Sandra, and Paul remained on the alien vessel; John Koenig sat in the co-pilot's seat of Eagle Two.
Davis said, "Two minutes, Commander. We're cleared for pad Four."
Koenig nodded, considered, and then activated the communications console on his side of the cockpit. After a moment Paul Morrow's image appeared.
"Yes, Commander?"
"Paul, check out the rest of that ship, but be careful."
"Yes, Sir, but that won't be easy with the power at such low levels."
"Do what you can," Koenig replied. "Eagle Two, out."
---
"Well, there you have it," Paul slipped the Commlock onto his utility belt. "Commander says to have a look around."
Paul, Sandra, and Victor Bergman stood in the central hub of the ship. Three corridors led off from their position; one to the bridge where they had found the unconscious woman; one to starboard, another to port. It appeared a fourth exit led down, but a heavy bulkhead set in the floor blocked that avenue.
"Yes, well," Bergman mused as he knelt near the portal in the floor. "That might be difficult," and he fiddled with a small panel that appeared to control the door.
Carter spoke as he emerged from the airlock leading to Eagle One. He carried a pair of flashlights and a shoulder bag which he handed to Bergman. "Here you go professor, everything you asked for," Carter glanced around and then observed, "Lights are on, oxygen, heat…but no propulsion and the interior is locked down. I guess that's a glass half-empty."
"Well, no, just one moment," Bergman knelt by the locked door situated in the floor. "It's just a question of power. From what we can see, there is only power to a handful of systems onboard, and until we find a way to access the computer and turn things back on we're gong to have to provide an energy boost to open these doors." He fiddled about in the bag retrieved from the Eagle by Carter and produced a small, multi-function tool akin to a Swiss army knife. He used a tiny screwdriver attachment to pry at the panel of controls next to the sealed door. After some doing it gave way and revealed an orderly set of wires.
"There, see," Bergman waved his hand at the innards of the control. "So very much like our own technology. Let's have a go at it, shall we?" And he pulled his Commlock from its belt holster
Sandra glanced around at the darkened chamber and nervously asked, "Professor, what are you doing?"
"Our Commlocks, Sandra," he answered. "They unlock doors, transmit communications and images, can be used as a locator, and so much more…including…"
Paul filled in the final blank: "Including as a power source, maybe to jump start a powerless lock, Professor?"
"Exactly," and Bergman hummed something from Gilbert and Sullivan as he slipped a panel off the side of his Commlock and intertwined the wires there with those inside the door control.
Paul said, "Professor, you said in the control room that you thought there was a signal being transmitted to this ship."
"Hmm? Oh yes, that. While Dr. Russell was evacuating her patient I investigated a little further but without actually activating some of the controls there is no way to know for sure. Hang on…almost got this. Are you paying attention? This procedure will most likely need to be repeated if we're going to explore this ship."
"Signal?" Alan squinted. "What signal?"
Morrow told Alan and Sandra, "The Professor saw a readout on one of the controls that appeared to be a transmission to this ship but he thinks it's being blocked."
Bergman finished his wiring project as he told them, "All conjecture, Paul. Too early to surmise anything, really. And we'd be wise to—"
The floor hummed for a moment, a heavy lock gave way, and the portal slid open with a clang revealing a ladder descending into darkness.
"There we go, easy enough."
---
The woman from the spaceship lay quiet on a bed in Medical, still wearing her blue jumpsuit. Helena and John stood back while Dr. Mathias and one of the nurses swept a white, u-shaped contraption over her body. A thin blue light sliced down from that contraption as it mapped her physical form and fed the results into the medical computer.
"Just the blood on her head," Helena said, again, to Koenig. "That's the only sign of injury."
"So what happened up there, Helena?"
"John," she turned to him and emphasized, "there's no way for us to know. I don't even know if the physiology is the same. The thermographic scan should provide more details but it will take some time for the data to be processed. Still," and she glanced at the woman, "she is very much like us. Another example, I suppose, of Victor's theory on carbon-based life developing along similar lines. We've seen it before."
"We've seen a lot of things before, Helena. So why does this empty space ship make me nervous?"
She smiled—a little. "Because that's your job."
Dr. Mathias finished the scan and handed the equipment to the nurse, saying, "Take this to the computer to process the images."
The nurse complied and walked off. Just before Mathias followed her, he stopped and leaned over the patient.
"Dr. Russell, Commander…"
They joined him bedside. The brunette woman's eyes fluttered and her head swayed gently side to side. She raised a hand—weak and trembling—to her forehead.
"Easy, easy there," Helena comforted.
The woman opened her eyes, squinted in the bright shine of the room, and then worked to keep them open. She licked her lips and struggled to sit up; Dr. Mathias gave her a helping hand.
"Hello there," John Koenig said trying to temper his commander's voice with a measure of compassion.
The woman's mouth opened, closed, she swallowed, and then tried again.
"H-hello. Hello," and the woman's head swung about slowly soaking in her strange surroundings.
"You have a bump on your head," Helena told her. "But other than that, you appear to be in good shape. You've been unconscious since we found you in the control room of your ship."
"My…ship?"
She placed her head in her hands.
Koenig told her, "Your space ship has gone into orbit around our…" he considered his words and told her, "…around the planetoid that houses our base. When we received no communication we boarded, and found you lying on the control room floor."
The woman did not appear to hear. Her wide eyes and crinkled brow spoke of confusion and disorientation.
"Found…me…"
"You're safe here," Helena tried to comfort. "We mean you no harm and only wish to help you."
"Yes," the woman stumbled with the words. "I need…I need help."
Koenig glanced at Helena, folded his arms, and asked her, "How so?"
"Could you tell me…" she licked her lips again, glanced at Helena and Mathias and then fixed her eyes on Koenig."Could you tell me who I am?"
---
Paul and Sandra's flashlights settled on a big, horizontal bulkhead at the end of the long hall that sprouted out to starboard on the vessel. That hall had been lined with storage compartments and lit by thin panels of dim lighting.
"Okay then, time for us to give it a try," he told her and she handed him a small tool similar to the one Victor had used to hotwire the cargo hatch door. Paul managed to pry off the door controls and then open his Commlock. A moment later the wires were connected and—with the push of the auxiliary power button on his device—the bulkhead slid open.
Most of the air of the ship smelled stale and artificial, just as the air on Alpha smelled; the aroma of recycled atmosphere. That aroma changed—slightly—when the door opened. Paul immediately tasted a faint floral bouquet in one breath; a musty odor in the next.
The stretch of spaceship beyond that door explained why. Small chambers—rooms—lined the walkway to either side.
The investigating Alphans looked inside one and saw a small bed not unlike the kind they slept in back on moon base. Around the bed on desks and shelves rested personal knickknacks. Paul saw a statue of person playing some kind of game, photographs of a family that could have been from Earth, a model of a propeller-driven fighter plane that made him think of a P-51 Mustang from his own history papers, a squat container holding fragrant yellow and green flowers, and a thick red candle half-melted from previous use.
"These must be the crew quarters," Sandra spoke the obvious.
The two visitors strode along cautiously using their flashlights to check in each compartment and taking mental notes along the way.
"Twenty five beds," he said.
Sandra pointed out, "But only five appear to be habited."
She spoke the truth. Most of the compartments hosted bare mattresses and no signs of personal affects; empty. Five were clearly recently used.
"A smaller crew than normal? Is that what this means?"
She answered, "I do not know, Paul. I can only tell you what I see."
Clearly the derelict ship and the lack of answers drew San's nerves taught. He threw an arm around her and assured, "It's okay, Sandra. There's no one here."
"Yes," her eyes darted toward shadows and into empty compartments. "I wonder why that is so?"
Paul's Commlock beeped. He gave her a quick, friendly squeeze and then answered the call. Commander Koenig stared at him over the video screen.
"Paul. What's your status?"
He glanced around the empty chamber full of sleeping compartments and tried to conjure an answer.
"We've found what looks to be the crew quarters. They are empty, Commander. We count twenty-five but only five of them have been used recently."
"Paul, stand bye."
Down on Alpha moon base in the Medical center, John Koenig stepped away from the Commpost and over to their visitor. She stood alongside the medical bed on unsure legs with Helena providing some support.
"Can I show you something?" Koenig said to her as kindly as he could but his voice always carried a measure of sternness.
"John, it is not uncommon for a head injury to cause loss of memory. Just give her time; no need to push."
"No, it's okay," the woman said, and walked carefully to his side. "I want to know."
"We have people on your ship," he explained. "We're just trying to find out what happened to you and your crew. They are there now. They can transmit images here, to this screen, from inside your ship. Do you understand?"
She soaked in his words and then nodded curtly.
"I'm hoping we might be able to stimulate your memory."
He spoke to Paul on the Commpost: "Transmit images from those crew quarters, Paul."
He complied, pointing his Commlock in several of the quarters that were unused, and then those that were. As the video feed moved from room to room the woman peered closer and closer at the picture; she reached out and stroked a finger across the screen as if trying to tough those images.
Suddenly her eyes widened and she tapped the monitor.
"Chrys…Chrysillias."
"What? What's that? Paul, hold there."
The video screen remained focused on a painting pinned above one of the neatly-made beds. The crisp, precise piece of art depicted a green planet with sharp white clouds surrounded by a pair of jagged moons with a pale star in the background.
The woman repeated. "Chrysillias. I know that place. I…I remember."
Helena touched her shoulder and whispered, "What do you remember?"
"Paul, sweep that room with your Commlock. Show us everything, slowly."
"My…my home. That is where I am from. Yes, I remember that now. How could I forget?"
Paul's video feed found a photograph of an animal about the size of a horse sporting two horns and a sharp snout.
"Those quarters might be yours. Look here," Koenig pointed to the new image. "Do you remember this photo?"
"That's my marehiss. Yes…yes when I was a child we went riding through the mountains. My Papa and I. And my two…my two…brothers…no, no…" and she backed away from the image.
Helena clasped her shoulders to steady the woman.
"John. Enough. It's too much."
"Paul…continue with your search. Alpha out."
He switched off the Commpost but followed Helena and the woman to the medical bed.
"Your brothers…does that cause you to remember something?"
Helena shot John a disapproving glare. He ignored her.
"Yes…yes," and she sniffled, on the verge of tears. "I feel sad."
Koenig tried a different tract: "Okay, you recognized that planet. Your home planet. Is it one of the planets on your uniform?"
The woman gained control and shot him a puzzled look. Dr. Mathias appeared at the woman's side with a mirror and held it so as to reflect the insignia of the cluster of planets on her shoulder as well as a series of dots that appeared to indicate rank.
The woman stared at the reflection for several seconds. So long that Helena and John shared a look that suggested they both wondered if she were still awake.
Then the woman spoke.
"I am Lt. Juynan Hannah…yes, that is who I am," and she turned to first Helena and then John with excited eyes. "That is my name."
"What about your brothers?" John pushed that button and Helena's eyes nearly pierced the Commander with disapproval.
Juynan's excitement faded fast.
"They are dead."
"How?"
"I…I don't know. I can't remember. I see images of explosions and fire. I hear screams in my head!" And she stood and paced with more strength then she had shown to that point. "Screams! Fire! The house in the hills…all gone…destroyed."
"By who?"
"I don't know! I can't remember!"
Helena intervened.
"Okay, okay, calm down. That's enough for now. Just relax."
Juynan tensed…and then relaxed again, practically falling onto the medical bed and raising fingers to her temples.
Koenig ran a hand across his forehead, along his cheek, and grabbed his chin. He knew more, but what he had learned did not make him feel any better. In fact, his concern grew exponentially.
---
Eagle Three made a long sweeping turn and decelerated as it moved toward the undercarriage of the alien space ship.
"I'm making another pass," Irving transmitted to Main Mission.
Tanya's voice answered from Alpha: "We're receiving the images, Peter."
"My kind of day; just out here flying around."
"At least you're not cooped up on base."
"Roger that, Alpha. But still, it'd be nice to have some company. Say Tanya, you feel like taking a ride in Eagle Three? I could swing down and pick you up?"
Tanya giggled softly and transmitted, "Sorry Eagle Three, your transmission is breaking up."
Irving let out a quick chuckle as his craft fell under the shadow of the alien craft. He used his eyes and his scanners to inspect the vehicle. This pass revealed what all the other passes had revealed: nothing.
"She's clean, Alpha. I've covered every inch of this thing. No sign of damage. Whatever happened, happened on the inside. Do you copy, sweetheart?"
In Main Mission before Tanya could reply Kano pushed the transmit button.
"We read you, Eagle Three."
Onboard the shuttle Irving sat up straight in his harness and lost any trace of a smile. Kano finished with, "Commander Koenig wants you to stay on station until further notice."
"Understood, Alpha," Irving's voice broadcast.
Kano jabbed, "This is sweetheart, over and out."
---
In the belly of the beastly ship, Alan Carter and Victor Bergman worked their way through a wide, dark hall. The taught beams of their flashlights cut through like lasers, revealing walls sporting dents, chips, and scratches; the type of imperfections and damage that came with hard work, Carter noted. The work of a cargo ship.
They had already inspected three small storage bays when they came upon the fourth. Bergman used his Commlock to jump start the door and it opened to another empty space.
"Again?" Carter's voice cracked in surprise. "I just don't get it, Professor. If this is a cargo ship, where's the cargo?"
"Hmmm, maybe they were on a return trip; their cargo already delivered."
"No, now wait a sec, Professor, that doesn't add up. The nearest star system is a good light year away; there isn't anything out here. Why would you send an empty freighter into deep space?"
"For that matter," Bergman followed Carter's thought, "why would you send a full one into deep space? I think the answer is still around here somewhere. Come on, it's a big ship, still a chance of finding a clue or two."
The men turned their flashlights forward and continued onward into the dark.
---
"John," Helena led the Commander to a far corner of Medical. She held a series of transparencies displaying thermographic images of the patient in her hands and glanced at them as she spoke. "Juynan has undergone trauma of either a physical nature or psychological. But our preliminary tests show nothing that could account for this."
He pointed gently at her as he said, "But they do show that Juynan is very much like us; human."
"Yes, she is another example of Bergman's theory of parallel development. Minor differences? I'm sure more in-depth scanning will reveal that. But in all practical terms she is human. That means her planet might be suitable for us."
"Sure," he answered. "But there's nothing along our immediate flight path. Chances are she's from a system about one light year away; too far off for us to survey or try to evacuate to."
"Then it's all academic," Helena said but John didn't listen.
"I'm wondering what happened out there," and he pointed toward the window and outer space.
"I don't know when she'll remember, John."
Dr. Mathias stepped into their conversation. Helena handed him the transparencies.
"Bob, run the thermographic scans you did through the computer for enhancement. If we dig a little deeper we might be able to find something more."
Mathias told her what she already knew: "That will take some time, doctor."
Koenig asked, "What's her condition now?"
Mathias turned his head to look across Medical to where Juynan lay in bed with her eyes wide open and her hands tapping her sides.
"She's lying down but isn't getting any rest. Physically, she appears in good condition. Mentally, she is confused and tense. She wants to know what happened on that space ship as much as we do."
Koenig snapped his fingers.
"Spaceship. Yes, that's it. She reacted to the photos of the crew quarters. Maybe she'll react to something else."
---
Kano glanced at his console, then at the monitors under the view screen at the front of Main Mission, then at his console again.
"Tanya," he said. "Tell Irving to review his onboard scanner tapes for power readings during his last pass."
"What is it, David?"
"Just have him check," and Kano left his station, walked around the collection of desks at the heart of the room, and approached the computer banks along the wall beneath the balcony. There he punched in data and awaited a response.
"David," Tanya called from her post. "Peter's records show a brief spike in power readings during his last fly by. It appears to have come from the underbelly of the vessel near the stern."
Kano ignored her while reading a slip of paper from computer.
"David, did you hear me?"
"There was a power spike," he said. "Computer confirms. But it was not generalized. It is still there but…but muffled. As if it is being shielded."
Tanya repeated, "Eagle Three's sensors indicate a previously undetected power source in the lower levels of the vessel."
Kano walked to what was normally Paul's desk.
"It was there all the time, just too weak for us to pick up at long range." Kano activated the communicator on the console. "Professor Bergman, are you receiving me?"
In the dark hall at the bottom of the ship, Victor Bergman received Kano's communication as he and Carter progressed deeper into the shadows.
"Yes, Alpha, we're here."
"Professor, we are recording energy readings from the lower levels of the ship."
Carter thought out loud, "We're in the lower levels."
Kano: "Have you found anything yet?"
Bergman glanced to Carter who shook his head. Bergman transmitted, "Nothing yet, David. A lot of empty storage rooms. Quite puzzling, actually."
"Professor, the readings are strong but confined, as if the ship is shielded to contain the energy signature. Have you explored the entire vessel?"
Carter's flashlight shined upon one more bulkhead; a big one stretching floor to ceiling and marking the end of the dark corridor.
"Professor…"
The men stopped moving forward. Bergman's light joined Carter's.
"No," Victor answered Kano's question. "But I think we're about to."
---
Junyan stood in front of the Commpost, her expression blank but her eyes fixed on the images; locked on them.
"These were taken by one of our transport ships," Koenig explained for the third time because it did not seem as if she listened. The video footage playing before her eyes came from Eagle 3's cameras and presented a detailed tour around the exterior of the stranger's ship.
Helena worried, "Are you all right? Do you want to sit down?"
Juynan finally spoke.
"I remember, now. Planetary Alliance ship Denapolis. That's my ship. Captain Krager commanding; first officer and navigator Sheffan Tott…helmsman Dabu…engineer Mennolly Phaust, and…and payload specialist Lt. Juynan Hannah."
She turned to Koenig as if seeking validation. He could do no more than return her stare.
"Five people on your ship," and he pointed to the image of the Denapolis on the Commpost monitor. "You saw what my people found; crew quarters for five times that number. Why so few? And where are your shipmates."
She turned away fast, threw her arms up and started, "I don't know!" Then she stopped because she did know. She remembered.
Koenig saw that in her wavering posture.
"Juynan, your ship is in orbit around our base. That puts my people in danger. I need to know what you know. It's the only way we can help you and it's the only way I'll know Alpha is safe."
"I think…I believe…" she struggled with the words, fidgeted with her fingers, and faced him after a quick glance Helena's way."A secret mission, Commander. Reduced crew size…yes, I remember. The computer system was upgraded to handle most of the ship's functions so that the crew size could be reduced to minimum."
"Why? Where were you going?"
She placed a hand on her forehead and complained, "I don't know. I can't remember. It's in front of me…in the dark…I just can't quite see. I want to remember!"
Helena comforted, "Easy, Juynan, don't force yourself. Let it come back in time, there's no rush," and she shot John yet another expression of disapproval.
"I can only tell you that it was important. Critical. I feel like what I'm doing…the lives of my entire planet; of many planets depends on it. I can feel that right here," and she touched her chest above her fast-beating heart. "I would sacrifice everything for them, Commander. For the Alliance. For Chyrsilias. We all would…all five of us. That's why we were chosen. No, wait. Why we volunteered."
He pushed, "Volunteered for what? Are my people in danger?"
"I don't know!" Then calmer. "I don't know."
---
Victor fumbled with the wires on his Commlock as Carter held his flashlight steady to illuminate the Professor's work. Alan kept glancing around at the darkness; something played on his nerves. More than the dark. More than the mystery. A feeling of energy building in the corridor…in the ship…all around him.
"A little…a little bit tricky here…" Bergman mumbled. If the atmosphere bothered Victor he did not show it. "Okay, that about does it."
A sharp clang reverberated through the hall. The massive bulkhead retreated to the sound of heavy wheels rolling along metal tracks.
Strobes of blue light assaulted the two men; flashing and rolling from the center of large cargo bay. After so long in the dark the glow blinded the men for several seconds. Carter looked away; Bergman raised an arm to shield his eyes.
A steady, throbbing drum accompanied the light; a vibration through the floor plates, the walls, and even their bones. The air grew thick with a sharp static crackle.
Their eyes adjusted.
"What is it, Professor?"
Of course Bergman offered no answer.
The light came from a cylinder approximately five meters high and half that size in girth. Black metal slats held the centerpiece steady and from inside that cylinder came repeating bursts of blue energy.
Whatever the device was, the huge main cargo hold was empty save for it. Dark and empty. Whatever purpose this contraption served it had been vital enough to be the only piece of cargo on a deep space freighter.
---
For the third time John Koenig presented Juynan with images on the Commpost. This time the broadcast came from Victor's Commlock and it showed that cylinder and its flashing energy filling an otherwise big and empty cargo bay.
Juynan studied the image for a long time but her eyes did not grow wide; they shrunk to slits. Her hands did not stroke the monitor, they clenched in fists. John and Helena could see her defenses rise; the tension grip her.
She knew this device. For the first time they saw not a frightened, unsure woman but the person who wore the uniform: the Lieutenant of the Planetary Alliance who bore responsibility for this device. In her chiseled expression John Koenig saw a hardened soldier.
"Well?"
She did not want to answer. Not now that she remembered her mission. But she did nonetheless.
"I remember, Commander. I remember everything now."
"Then tell me."
"You asked before if your people are safe," she answered. "I can tell you they are not."
He glanced at Helena, at the monitor again, and then to her.
"What do you mean? Is that a threat?"
"No, not from me. I am an officer in the Planetary Alliance. We are at war, Commander. We have been at war. A war that killed my brothers when my home world was bombarded."
"Who are you at war with?"
"The Vorion Imperium. Yes, I remember them. How could I forget? They killed my family when I was young. My Papa, my mother, my brothers. I have no one left because of them."
"And this device," he tapped the video screen. "Is it a weapon?"
"Not just a weapon, Commander. The weapon. The final weapon. The weapon that will win the war for the Planetary Alliance. How could I forget?"
Helena concluded, "You're transporting it to your front lines…for use against your enemy? A secret mission, John, with a reduced crew taking a route far out through deep space."
"Yes, doctor. And my crew and I will complete our mission. For the sake of my people. For revenge against those who killed my family."
Koenig asked, "What kind of weapon? Is it armed?"
"It is not armed but it is highly unstable. I suggest you tell your people to not go near it. If it were to detonate it the blast might consume your entire planetoid. It is an anti-matter device."
Helena gasped. "An anti-matter bomb? That could cause devastation on a planetary scale!"
"Yes, Doctor. That's the idea."
"That answers one question, Juynan," the Commander said. "It doesn't tell us what happened to you or your crew."
---
Paul and Sandra neared the end of their journey from the crew quarters on the starboard side to the closed bulkhead on the port side. As they neared that sealed door Paul spied something on the ground.
"Hello, what is this?"
He bent over and examined a silver device that featured a pistol grip with indentations in the shape of fingers and a thick barrel.
"Paul, it is a weapon."
"Yes," and he handled it; his fingers too big for the inserts but he could grip the pistol nonetheless. "Not sure how it works."
"Put it away, Paul. I am frightened by it."
"Okay," and he gently placed it on the floor against the wall. "Let's see what we've got in here."
Paul approached the control panel for the bulkhead, used the tiny screwdriver to remove the plate, and went to work attaching his Commlock to the circuits.
"One more jump start. I think we've seen just about everything on this ship."
Sandra folded her arms tightly against her chest, shivered, and told him, "I will be happy to return to Alpha."
"That should do it…"
And it did. After a quick clang the bulkhead door slid open. Several shards of light from panels on the ceiling slipped out from within. Paul and Sandra's flashlights joined this faint illumination.
But Sandra dropped her flashlight. It rolled on the floor…her hands came to her ears and she screamed; a shocked howl of fear and revulsion…her flashlight beam rolled over and over flickering through the room…on to the tables and chairs…onto the bloody bodies wearing blue jump suits riddled with wounds…over dead people staring out at her, expressions of shock and fear forever frozen in their eyes.
