SPACE:1999 Disclaimer:

I do not own Space:1999 or any of it's characters, they are the property of Gerry Anderson.

GOOD VERSUS EVIL - part 11

The darkness...the whispers...the darkness...the whispers...

The darkness was pitch...the whispers were lonely...

Paul Morrow KNEW that he STILL existed. He couldn't see, he could hear...he just had this notion of being himself...being aware...

Maybe this was what it was like being a plant?

It was strange...he couldn't even speak...but he could mouth the words in his mind.

His mind EXISTED...HE EXISTED.

Was he dead? Was this some kind of after life?

"One body...one life...one existance..."

That's what he had heard in his mind when...when he couldn't see no more...his sight gone in a flash of white light and there was nothing at all.

"I'll fight this...I EXIST...Do you hear me out there? Whoever you are...I EXIST!"

Words with no sound...just those that exist in his mind.

There was a planet.

A planet that supported the collective...why he thinking that? Was he MADE to think that?

Paul Morrow was standing...he FELT like he was standing...and at last, he could finally hear something.

A waterfall. It sounded like a waterfall.

"How I want to see it..."

And then he could...the was a beautiful waterfall crashing against purple and red rock. The colour of the water was a tinge of green.

Their was strange plants growing out from the water. Purple prickerly leaves with what looked like blooms of blue and orange jutting out from the main stems.

The aroma was something he could recognise...it was familiar, even though he had never ever sighted such a flower in all the planets he had come across since the moon broke away from the earth in 1999.

It was only this he could see...the area beyond the waterfall and the area around him was total darkness.

"Paul..."

Morrow turned he could see John Keonig standing beyond the waterfall. He was smiling at him and then holding out his hands around him.

"isn't it beautiful Paul? Couldn't we ever of wished for something so glorious?"

Paul held out his hands, turning them around and faced his palms...he could see again.

"I don't understand any of this commander...where are we? WHERE is Alpha?"

Koenig looked at him, his eyes narrowed, "Now come on Paul...you know we never speak about Alpha no more...not since we helped our friends"

Paul frowned at him, "Friends...?"

Koenig stepped forward with his hands on his belt, "Of course...if it wasn't for them, WE wouldn't be here now"

"The lost ones?"

Koenig nodded, "They were trapped Paul...trapped in the darkness...WE have freed them...and THIS is our reward..."

Paul pointed around him, " But there IS nothing here!"

Koenig was laughing like he wasn't going to stop...and then his face was like that of a bleached skull.

"YOU ARE A STRONG ONE MORROW...BUT YOU WILL SUBMIT! YOU WILL GIVE US YOUR SOUL!"

Paul Morrow shook his head, "I am rational! I see what there is to see...there is nothing here...this isn't real...nothing here is real!"

The darkness...the whispers...

"I AM on Alpha...Alpha exists...I EXIST..."

He turned his head to see the corridor loom. It was like a gateway out from the darkness. Paul ran for it...the corridor...it was corridor five...he ran and ran...but the corridor seemed to getting further and further away.

"SUBMIT YOUR SOUL!"

Paul was out of breath...he ran and ran on, then jumped...

He was in corridor five...he stood up and turned to see the veil of darkness creep along the corridor. He sprinted to the travel tube and pressed the caller. There was no response. He turned and ran down corridor 2 and headed to the command post and pressed the communication switch, "Morrow to Main Mission...Morrow to Main mission", but there was no response.

The darkness was creeping around the corner. Paul bit his bottom lip and then ran as fast as he could up the corridor to the number 5 Launch pad. From the window he could see Eagle 5 on the platform. But there was nothing above but darkness...no constellations of stars and galaxies...there was nothing out there at all.

He pressed the caller to the travel tube that was connected to the Eagle...nothing, it woudn't respond.

He turned and saw that the darkness had reached the corridor he was in...Moonbase Alpha was being eaten away by it.

Why me? Why am I the only one left?

XXXX

The moon was coming out from the darkness...it was drifting off into another star system.

Paul Morrow could see some alien sun nearly blind him from the windows as it rose from the lunar rocks...

He shielded his eyes and made his way down the corridor.

"Mr Morrow...Mr Morrow?"

Paul darted around to the command post. There was a face on the small moniter, "Security to Paul Morrow...?"

Paul pushed the button," Ray? Ray...where have you been...?"

"Where have WE been...?"

XXX

Paul hurried into Main Mission and stopped at a startle. The hub was busy with personnel getting on with their duties.

Professor Bergman turned and smiled at him, "Ahhhhh Paul...a good rest period I trust?"

Paul looked at him, then towards Sandra, Tanya...Luke and Kano...the others...all were looking at him, waiting for his response to the professors question.

"Rest period?"

Sandra shook her head, "Paul...are you alright? You seem distracted..."

Paul came forward and went to his station, "Yes, of COURSE I am alright...it seems I've had the worst of dreams...funny what space does to you"

Sandra and Tanya glanced at one another.

Paul looked up to the big screen, "So...the planet? What's been happening since I've been...", he cleared his throat, "...away"

The professor placed a hand over his shoulder, "Eagle Three has just returned...it's been confirmed...the planet will not support us..."

Paul could see the planet getting smaller on the screen as the moon drifted further and further away from it.

He stared off into space.

Sandra smiled at him, "At least the commander is recovering now...he will be back with us very soon"

Paul looked at her absently. Sandra was looking at him...there was something false about that smile of hers.

His eyes overted to the floor. His shadow meeting her. But where was HER shadow? Come to think about it, where was Lukes, or the professors...?

Bergman smiled thinnly, "Paul...is there anything wrong?"

Paul stepped back, "I need to see the commander...", and with that he hurried off.

Luke went to go after him, but Victor held an arm out to halt him in his tracks, "Not now..."

XXX

Paul sat in the travel tube. He was alone. The lights of the travel tube streaking across the walls as it was in motion.

What in gods name was going on? There was no way he had dreamt what he had gone through...or, was he going around the twist?

He stood up as the travel tube came to a halt, and as the doors slid across, he was faced with Dr Russell and her medical team.

She held out her hands to him, "Now come on Paul...you are not quite yourself...you need to come with us to Medical"

Paul swallowed down and looked at her face closely...was there a flash of black in those pupils.

"Paul...you NEED to come with us..."

Morrow backed himself into the travel tube and the door slid across as his hand slapped down onto the operation button.

This wasn't right...there was something very wrong...

XXX

Commander Koenig came and stood behind Helena out side the traveltube.

"Where is the individualist"

"In the travel tube...his mind is NOT part of the collective...he must be found"

Koenig shook his head, his stance very serious, " Oh yes...he MUST be found...the collectives mind must he made whole...and our final freedom is depending on it..."

XXX

More soon, Just Two chapters to go now.