UFO: Roper's Redemption
A short one covering Roper's successful defence of Moonbase in Flight Path. Poor bugger was so brave, I thought he deserved it.
SHADO HQ, Straker's office
Straker stood, looking over the figures on the whiteboard. Even with the timing figures corrected, it still made no sense.
Or did it?
He looked over to the planetary display, a miniature orrery of sorts, depicting Sun, Moon and Earth, and a thought came to him. He turned on the display and watched the movement of the model Moon around the Earth.
At a certain point in its simulated orbit, in a flash of insight Straker knew.
Now it made perfect sense.
Straker was sat at his desk writing when the doors opened and Freeman entered, carrying a clear file folder with several photographs. He wasted no time in preamble. "Dawson died ten minutes ago."
Straker knew from the report what had happened: Carol had shot through the door, fatally injuring Dawson. "Yes," he agreed, "a shot gun makes quite a mess."
"The doctors found this," Freeman added, dropping a small object into Straker's palm. It was small, cylindrical, possessed two short electrical leads and felt like nothing on Earth.
Which was hardly surprising, since it hadn't been made there.
Straker manoeuvred it between his index finger and thumb to look at it keenly.
"It's some sort of electronic probe," Freeman explained (at least, so Captain Masters had told him on analysing it). "It'd been inserted into his temple."
A device for mental communication and control, Straker mused. Not the first time, or the last, I bet.
He said only, "Hmm, Well, I think the picture is almost complete." He stood and crossed to the planetary display, turning it on. "Come over here, Alec, and watch this."
Freeman dropped the file on the desk and moved to stand next to Straker, watching the display move. Straker waited. He followed the path of the model Moon with his finger, until..."Here." He shut it off. "There!"
With his long acquaintance with the Moon and its behaviour, Freeman understood instantly. The light from the simulated Sun was just touching the model Moon. "Sunrise on the Moon."
"Exactly," Straker nodded. "That's how they plan to make the attack. Fly in across the lunar horizon at sunrise, keeping between Moonbase and the Sun."
"Visually undetectable," Freeman understood. Surely the Aliens had never had an equivalent of the Red Baron. Yet this was the same tactic, coming out of the sun.
"Totally," Straker agreed grimly.
"But it would be picked up by Moonbase radar the moment it crossed the horizon," Freeman protested.
But Straker shook his head. "No, not if the attack were planned to coincide with heavy sunspot activity, like that predicted in two days' time. And with Roper's flight plan to guide the attacker."
"Moonbase wouldn't stand a chance!" the older man gasped. It was true; though there were plans in work to create a Ground Defence Force, they were still inchoate as yet. Launching the Interceptors would be useless if they couldn't see their target - or fix on it with radar, as their gear would be similarly incapacitated.
"Chance?" Straker said thoughtfully. "No...but we have Roper's flight plan too, remember?"
Doubtfully Freeman said, "I don't see how we can stop it!"
But Straker had already devised a plan. It was risky in the extreme...but doing nothing was even more so. He explained it: "One man, on his own, at a predetermined position out on the Moon's surface. A rocket launcher, polarised visor."
"It'd be suicide!"
"Possibly," Straker allowed.
"You can't expect a man to -"
"I don't need a volunteer, Alec," Straker interrupted matter-of-factly.
Freeman got it immediately. "You mean Roper." It wasn't a question. He picked up one of the photos from the file and skimmed it to Straker. "And I suppose you used this to twist his arm!"
"I didn't have to," Straker denied, picking up the photo. "He's doing it to try and even the score."
Not surprising, Freeman thought. It would be just like Paul Roper, he knew, to try to make amends.
Saving Moonbase from destruction would sure as hell do that. He would personally order Frazer to counsel Paul; no doubt he needed it.
He would definitely need it when he heard about Carol.
"And when are you going to tell him?"
Straker was deceptively blasé. "Maybe he'll never need to know."
Freeman had no further comment. The photo could be seen clearly as Straker put it down.
It depicted Carol, sprawled out on the floor of her foyer.
Dawson's last conscious act, obeying the Alien compulsion, was to retrieve his pistol and use it to shoot her where she stood, trembling, paralysed with fear. Despite his fatal injuries, the shot was precise, killing her instantly.
Neither man had any intention of mentioning this to Roper...yet.
Moonbase, Control Sphere
Roper was suited up in a spacesuit, visor open. Gay Ellis was on the phone. Joan Harrington was helping Roper with his equipment. Nina Barry sat at her console.
"Right," Gay said to her phone, and hung up. She turned to Roper. "One hour. Now, once you're outside, maintain radio silence."
Roper nodded, then a thought occurred to him. "One favor." If I deserve one. "I couldn't tell Carol, my wife. If you could book an Earth call, by the way, if you know what I mean?"
"I'll sort things out when you get back," Gay assured him.
She was lying through her teeth; Straker had privately briefed her, while communications between Earth and Moonbase were still operational, which they would not be in a few minutes.
A beeper went off on the console. Gay flipped a switch and Straker appeared on the monitor.
"All set?" he asked.
She confirmed, "All set."
"Good. Begin stage one. Oh, Roper," he added, "good luck."
He meant it. Alec was right; it was a matter of degree. Roper wasn't really a traitor - else he wouldn't have volunteered for such an insanely dangerous mission.
SHADO safety regs, inaugurated when Sam Bradshaw had suffered a micro-meteorite puncture and succumbed to hypoxia before he could re-enter Moonbase, insisted: No-one is to be allowed out on the lunar surface alone, for any reason whatsoever, other than the cadet solo moonwalk. Certainly it was too dangerous to send another person with Roper, though. This was very, very much an exception to the Bradshaw Directive.
How many other SHADO "traitors" had there been, Straker wondered, pressured as Roper had been?
Too damn many, for sure. Even one was one too many.
And yet people were still people. They would still pursue relationships.
They would still be vulnerable.
Psycho-Analytic was working on it. Dr. Jackson had noted that it was "a knotty problem", but he was quite confident of designing a compensatory procedure to maintain SHADO security while still allowing personnel to be human.
After all, if they couldn't be human, they might as well let the Aliens have Earth.
Roper sealed his visor, pressurised his suit and exited the airlock as if everything was normal.
The airlock door opened onto the surface, and Roper exited, carrying the rocket launcher. He looked around the area at the rocky terrain. He began walking away from Moonbase. A short distance away, he looked back at the airlock door as it closed.
No way back now.
God, I wish I could tell Carol.
Okay. Got a way to go. God, I'm tired.
Lunar surface, predetermined interception point
The area was rocky, with many peaks and ridges. Roper settled himself behind a large rock, and looked back at Moonbase in the far distance.
Earth's front line of defence. Looks damn small from here.
Right. Let's see about this thing. He applied a key to open the launcher's firing chamber.
Moonbase, Control Sphere
The radar tracking screens showed traces of static. The solar flare had hit. Unlike Earth, the Moon had no magnetic field, so there was nothing to stop it. Captain Masters had speculated about maybe inducing a magnetic field in Moonbase itself, so at least short-range radar would work. It was a puzzle as to why Utronic equipment was susceptible to EM phenomena, though Phyllis Anderson was working on this (and many other things); she was confident of finding a solution.
But not in the next hour or so.
"Is there any chance of the radar trackers operating?" Joan asked hopelessly.
"Not with all this sunspot activity," Gay returned glumly.
"The time is now zero-seven decimal four-nine," Joan announced into her mike. "Sunrise is in ten minutes."
And the Aliens, they all knew, would attack shortly afterward.
Unless Paul could stop them.
SHADO HQ, Straker's office
Joan appeared indistinctly on Straker's monitor. He watched, very worried. Freeman stood with him. Straker held a cigar in one hand and a lighter in the other. He lit Freeman's cigarette.
Lunar surface, interception point
Roper began to load the rocket launcher and checked his watch. From past experience the rocket launcher was known to be effective against a UFO.
If he could hit the damn thing.
Moonbase, Control Sphere
"Roper's on his own," Gay noted anxiously.
Any minute now..
Lunar surface
As Roper watched, the sun began to rise over the horizon. He pulled down the polarised visor over his face plate. Now he could see clearly.
But as yet, there was nothing to see.
Yet.
Moonbase, Control Sphere
"Twenty-three seconds since sun-up, Lieutenant," Joan reported, as if Gay didn't already know.
But Gay did not chastise her. She knew Joan was frightened. They all were.
The next few minutes would determine their fate...and that of Earth.
Lunar surface
Roper waited. On the horizon, he saw the sun rise over the peaks.
Still nothing.
Wait...
Roper spotted a tiny black speck against the sun. The speck grew larger.
A UFO.
Straker was right.
The Alien craft was travelling precisely along the flight path SID had calculated.
From data Roper had given it.
He took aim with the rocket launcher.
The UFO approached his position.
Roper fired on it.
But he missed. The round exploded against an outcrop.
Frantically he loaded a second round. The UFO began evasive manoeuvres, weaving between the peaks but still holding the general course. Roper lost sight of it, squinting. Where the hell is -
Then it crested a ridge, closing fast. With dread he knew three things:
It was now within its weapon range;
The Aliens now knew SHADO had taken defensive measures, i.e. Roper;
He would have time for one last shot - and only one.
His crosshairs settled on the Alien craft. It was above him, almost past him.
Reflexively he fired.
The round hit and exploded. Emitting an oddly-coloured stream of smoke, the stricken UFO veered and crashed into the surface, exploding not far from Moonbase - obviously the Aliens had attempted to finish their mission even though their craft was crippled. Roper ducked the débris.
Got you, you bastard!
Enervated by the stress, he keyed his radio and reported, "UFO...destroyed."
Moonbase, Control Sphere
The girls were relieved, though Gay showed only a small smile. "He's done it." She turned to Nina. "Get a Moon-hopper out there, and fast!"
"Right, Lieutenant," Nina affirmed, and moved to a different console.
Lunar surface
But Roper had a problem. He could tell from the hissing, which was not coming from his suit bottle, that his suit had been punctured. Yes, there it was, a small hole in the spacesuit leg. "Losing a little air," he told Moonbase.
Moonbase, Control Sphere
Gay frowned as he added, "Damage...only slight."
That, Gay knew too well, was an understatement; there was no such thing as a "slight" breach while on the surface of the Moon. There were small breaches and large ones, but even a pinprick could lead to loss of air in the vacuum.
But if he could hold on for just a few minutes, apply an emergency repair patch...
Hold on, Paul. They're coming.
Lunar surface
The contents of his repair kit box might have looked familiar to a cyclist: rubber patches and a tube of adhesive sealant. The principle was exactly the same as patching an inner tube; in fact the repair kit was the cheapest component of the suit. Repair should have been a simple matter of applying sealant, waiting a few seconds for the adhesive to cure in the vacuum and then applying the patch.
But Roper had just been through a demanding ordeal, apart from his ongoing stress issues, and he was no longer a young man. The combination of factors made him tired enough for his coordination to suffer.
He dropped the tube as he unscrewed the cap. He had to get down to retrieve it. He smeared some sealant on the slight tear in the suit. The sealant bubbled and popped, having had insufficient time to cure. Roper did it again, sealing the hole briefly. In this situation he should have pressed the patch to his leg and held it there until rescue arrived. Unfortunately he wasn't thinking so coherently.
As his suit lost more air, Roper's breathing became more laboured, and he began coughing.
He could not finish the patch on his suit.
The fragile seal was endangered by the swelling of the sealant bubble.
Moonbase, Control Sphere
"Paul, is everything all right?" Gay asked, concerned.
"Yeah, sure," the reply came, but she wasn't convinced.
"Listen, a Moon-hopper is on its way. It'll be with you in minutes." Just hang on till then, Paul.
"Fine."
The air pressure in his suit caused the sealant to form a bubble. Without a patch in place there was nothing to stop it.
Between Moonbase and Roper's position
A Moon-hopper skimmed above the surface, moving fast as ordered.
Lunar surface
But Roper knew they'd never make it in time. The distance from Moonbase was enough to give it a safety margin, but that meant a couple of miles, and even a Moon-hopper had its limits. Out of breath, his speech fragmented, he managed, "Tell...tell Straker...tell him I hope this evens things up."
As he was speaking, the bubble swelled.
"Paul?"
He was frantic now, using what he knew would be his final breath, his faceplate fogging up. "Tell...tell Carol..."
Roper said no more.
Alarmed, Gay called, "Paul? Roper! Roper!"
It was useless. He slumped. He'd lost consciousness.
Remorseless, the bubble popped.
The rest of his air leaked out.
It was as much of a tragedy as Sam Bradshaw's death had been. Even as he died, the Moon-hopper had reached his position. Two spacesuited personnel soon disembarked and hurried to him.
But one look at Roper's face told Lunar Medic Tom Willow all he needed to know. Roper's eyes were open and a little bloodshot, indicating blood vessel trauma. He recognised the signs: embolism.
Dammit. It's Sam all over again.
He had been one of the two Moonbase personnel to reach Bradshaw, the other being Sandra Jameson, eschewing a full suit for the sake of speed - brave but ultimately futile.
Tiredly he delivered his verdict. "Sorry, Moonbase, he's gone. All the signs indicate embolism." He sighed. "Should we bury him here?"
Moonbase, Control Sphere
Determinedly Gay nodded. "Yes. As soon as it's made up, I'll go out and place a marker there. He was no traitor - just a good man pushed into a bad situation."
"Copy, Moonbase."
Straker took the news stoically. It was almost a relief that now he would never have to tell Roper his wife was dead.
Almost.
When Gay told him about the marker, he very quietly cleared it. It seemed fitting to pay tribute to, in the end, a brave man.
The marker read:
Here lies
Astronaut
PAUL ROPER.
When a UFO was about to destroy Moonbase,
he bravely waited for it, alone, with only
a polarised visor and a rocket launcher.
He successfully destroyed it.
Unfortunately his suit suffered minor damage.
The air leak, combined with his exhaustion from stress,
killed him before rescue could arrive.
We of Moonbase owe him our lives...
as, perhaps, does everyone on Earth.
The people of Earth will never know of his sacrifice.
But we remember.
We will always remember.
SHADO HQ, Straker's office
Two days later
"Too damn close," General Henderson agreed. "If we'd had some sort of, I don't know, a tank covering Moonbase, we might not have needed to risk anyone. Of course, they won't try this again. They don't repeat."
"We still can't count on that, General," Straker pointed out. "And they may try striking at Moonbase in other ways. I suggest three tanks for total coverage, armed as heavily as possible."
Henderson winced. "It'll cost. You know the IAC will say that."
"And just how much did not having them nearly cost us, General?!"
"Good point," Henderson admitted.
To their surprise, the IAC didn't argue it.
THE END