THE PLANET THAT LOVED PEOPLE (standard:science fiction, 2739 words) [1/12] show all parts
Author: Danny Raven	Updated: Mar 13 2016	Views/Reads: 2500/1607	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
PART 3 - CH 1

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

“Passing under it....now!” Muslik told them. “Brief rear view,” he
ordered the Computer. 

On the Observation Screen he could see the massive, spiked ball
continuing along the top of the Corridor then it rounded the curve and 
went out of sight. 

“The sides of the Corridor are now one and a half space miles either
side!” announced the Computer. 

“Okay,” Muslik acknowledged. 

The Ship travelled on slowly and left the green/purple triangle section
and headed into a dark area of the Corridor. 

“You know what's supposed to come next, Frank?” he said to Kane. 

“Those jelly fish things!” Blaze piped up. “I want to see them!” 

Muslik grinned. “Yes, could be interesting,” he admitted. 

Everyone watched their Screens attentively as the Falcon travelled
slowly along, waiting to see the undulating, semi-opaque, brilliantly 
coloured shapes which would pass through the Ship...and them. 

They were all disappointed. They never appeared and ahead, Muslik could
see the glowing yellow net stretching all the way across the Corridor. 

“No sign of the ‘jelly fish', Blaze,” he announced, “but standby for the
net.” He ordered an increase in their speed and the Falcon cruised 
along to the net and was briefly slowed by it before bursting its way 
through, with long, yellow tendrils trailing behind it. 

“We're through!” Muslik announced. 

At this point the Zenon lost its Drive and Communications and Muslik
quickly checked both and was relieved to find them all still 
functioning. 

“We've still got Drive and Comms, Frank!” he relayed. 

“Thank Christ for that!” said Kane “Maybe it was those shapes passing
through the Ship that caused all the loss.” 

“The Corridor is starting to narrow!” announced the Computer. 

“So I see,” said Muslik, staring at the screen. “Distance to the sides?”


“Three quarters of a space mile, either side.” 

The Corridor had now become like the inside of a vast rocky cave, with
tunnels branching off here and there. As Muslik watched, he could see 
zigzagging bolts of blue lightning running along the cave roof which 
briefly lit up the darkness, showing massive rocky outcrops and huge 
stalactite and stalagmite formations. 

“Hope that lightning stays up top,” Muslik muttered. 

“Half a space mile, either side!” the Computer told him. 

The Falcon had been fitted with powerful forward searchlights just for
this area and Muslik ordered them on. They lit up the darkness of the 
cave section and he took over piloting manually, skilfully guiding the 
Ship around the rocky obstructions. 

“Seeing all this rock, Frank?” he asked. 

“We are,” replied Kane. “It's getting tighter out there, Muslik.” 

“Five hundred yards, either side!” announced the Computer. 

“Just got tighter!” Muslik said, grinning. “Oh shit!” he muttered. 

As he guided the Falcon round a huge stalagmite, he spotted another of
the giant, spiked balls heading towards them. 

“Two hundred and fifty yards, either side!” announced the Computer.
“Hold on!” Muslik yelled. “This will be close!” 

Muslik steered the Ship to the left. The spiked ball changed course and
moved to the right. Muslik steered the Ship to the right. The spiked 
ball moved to the left. 

Muslik frowned. The giant spiked ball, which was about a hundred yards
in diameter, seemed to be following his every move. 

“Arm lasers,” he ordered the Computer. “Target that spiked ball ahead.”
The Computer hesitated. “Er, I'm afraid the lasers are not responding,” 
it told him. 

“Recheck!” 

“I have. No weapons are functioning.” 

“We're in big trouble!” Muslik announced, although still calm. “Could be
the end of the road, Frank. Can you see the ball?” 

“Yeah, we see it.” 

“There's no way round it. Brace for impact!” 

Everyone braced themselves. Even Tyler. On their Screens they could see
the giant titanium spiked ball gain speed and zoom directly towards the 
Falcon. Blaze and Sarah hugged and screwed their eyes shut. 

As they all waited for the Ship to be wrecked in a collision with the
massive ball, nothing happened. Just as the ball touched the outer edge 
of the hull, there was a loud bang and it disappeared! 

Muslik breathed a sigh of relief and smiled when he heard the cheering
from the Safety Cabin. 

“Titanium ball my ass!” he remarked. “More like a titanium balloon!!” 

“What the hell happened there?” an astonished Tyler asked. 

“I have absolutely no idea,” Muslik told him. “Damn!” he muttered,
spotting something on screen. “Down that tunnel we're just passing. 
Take a look.” 

Briefly he panned the forward scanner to the left and there, wedged in
the tunnel they could see the rear of the Zenon. 

Only the skeleton of the giant Battle Cruiser remained but they could
still see some of the Fleet markings on the hull. Jagged bolts of 
lightning forked around inside it. 

“Poor bastards,” Muslik muttered as they passed. 

“The Corridor is widening!” the Computer announced. “Half a space mile,
either side!” 

“Thank buggery!” Blaze yelled. “I thought Sarah was going to squeeze me
to death!” 

Some laughter followed which eased the tension. It was soon to return.
The Falcon's forward searchlights now showed the Corridor to be smooth 
and circular again however it remained pitch black. Which is when the 
searchlights failed. 

“Oh Christ!” muttered Muslik. “What next?” 

“Have the searchlights just gone?” Kane asked. 

“Them and all the weapons,” Muslik told him. 

“I have re-checked and all weapons remain non-functioning. Power to the
forward searchlights has gone and I am unable to divert any to them,” 
the Computer told him. 

“Thanks for the good news,” muttered Muslik, puffing on his pipe.
“Distance to the sides?” 

“Remains static at half a space mile, either side.” 

Muslik glanced at the Earth Monitor where he could still see Tyler. “You
hear all that?” he asked. 

“I did. Any idea how much further the Corridor will last?” 

“Absolutely no idea,” Muslik replied, “and there's no way we can--” 

He trailed off as something caught his attention on the Observation
Screen. The pitch blackness was slowly brightening as dozens of 
multi-coloured stars started coming through the walls of the Corridor. 

They were about the size of dinner plates and they floated down from the
roof and floated up from the floor. Their colours were incredible, all 
different and they lit up the Corridor like a shimmering rainbow. 

“Wow!!” said Blaze “Check out the stars!” 

“Pretty impressive,” agreed Muslik. ‘What damage will they do us?' he
thought. 

He would find out soon. 

The brilliant, multi-coloured stars were never ending and hundreds of
them floated down and up and even started appearing through the sides 
of the Corridor. As soon as the Falcon nosed into them, the Computer 
gave Muslik the bad news. 

“Drive power has gone!” it announced. 

Muslik quickly checked the manual steering. It was okay for the moment
but then he and the others felt the Ship slow and come to a halt. 

It was now completely blanketed by the shimmering, glistening,
beautifully coloured stars from prow to stern and they even began to 
block the view of the forward scanner. 

Muslik glanced up at the Bridge ceiling, just waiting for the first of
the stars to start coming through but none did. 

For a few minutes, the Falcon remained silent and motionless, everyone
waiting to see what would happen next. 

The thousands of small, brilliant stars continued to hug the Ship then
slowly began to float away from it, back up to the roof of the Corridor 
or down to the floor or out to the sides. As silently as they had 
arrived they all disappeared back into the walls. 

Muslik raised an eyebrow. He had a feeling he wasn't going to like the
answers to the question he was about to ask. 

“Damage report?” he asked the Computer. 

“Drive gone, weapons gone, manual steering gone, all communications
gone,” it replied. “The only thing still working is the forward and 
rear scanners and before you ask, I've no idea why.” 

Muslik glanced at the Earth Monitor – it was black. He spoke to Kane on
the inter-com – there was no reply. He tried the manual steering – no 
response. 

The Falcon had now started drifting forwards again as if being pulled by
an unknown force. 

On the Observation Screen, the Corridor started to lighten and as it
brightened further, Muslik could see that it remained circular but had 
narrowed again. 

The white light strengthened and he saw the Corridor running straight
for a good distance before starting to curve to the right. There was 
just enough room in it for the Falcon to move through. He was about to 
contact Kane telepathically and give him an update on their situation 
when he saw something moving down the Corridor towards them. 

At first he thought it was another of the massive striped balls but it
wasn't. He looked again. Christ, it couldn't be! He closed his eyes for 
a couple of seconds and gently massaged them then blinked and looked 
again. His eyes hadn't been playing tricks on him – there was another 
Ship heading down the Corridor towards them! 

He pressed the zoom button on the scanners remote control and the Ship
leapt closer on the Observation Screen. Muslik's eyebrows rose as he 
instantly recognised it as another Falcon! 

For the first time in his life Muslik Gra felt a twinge of panic enter
his mind. What the hell could he do? They were heading down a narrow 
Corridor with another Ship coming towards them, there were no smaller 
passages for him to guide theirs into and anyway there was no steering 
power, the Drive was out and there wasn't enough room for the two Ships 
to slip past each other. 

He laid down the remote control, sat back and thoughtfully rubbed his
chin. Having recovered from his initial shock, the earlier twinge of 
panic hastily departed his mind. There was no place for it there. 

He leaned forwards and pressed the normal view button on the remote
control and the other Ship jumped back to its true position on the 
Screen. He leaned back and studied it. It was a few hundred yards away, 
was still heading straight for them, it hadn't slowed and it hadn't 
signalled. It was acting as if it hadn't seen them. 

He drummed his fingers on the console, searching for an answer but for
once in his life, none came. He looked up at the Screen again and his 
earlier fleeting panic was now replaced by complete amazement. 

The Ship was now close enough for him to recognise. It wasn't just
another Falcon heading towards them. It was their own Ship!  A dark 
blue Falcon with no Fleet markings!! 

Muslik frowned. There had to be an explanation. If only he could send
out a message but there was no power for it. The only thing he had was 
the scanner's remote control. 

The control! On the remote control there was a Bridge-to-Bridge button!
He grabbed it from the table and quickly pressed the button. The 
picture on the Observation Screen changed instantly and Muslik's eyes 
opened wide in amazement. 

Kane was on the Bridge of the other Ship!! 

“Curiouser and curiouser!” muttered Muslik, a smile breaking over his
face as he stared at the familiar figure on the Screen. “How in hell 
did he get there?” 

He sat for a short time studying Kane. Whatever had happened to him
looked pretty bad – his face was white and tense, he looked worried and 
there was no-one else around. 

Muslik shook his head and flicked the Screen back to normal view. The
other Falcon was now only about a hundred yards away, moving fast. They 
were bound for a collision and there was nothing he could do about it. 

He sighed and settled back comfortably in his seat. He refilled his
beloved pipe for the last time and lit it, wisps of aromatic smoke 
curling up around him. 

‘So many puzzles left unsolved,' he thought regrettably. ‘So many.' 

So many things he would like to have worked on. And the Corridor – he
was never going to find out what was through the other side now. 

He glanced up at the Screen. The other Falcon was only a few yards away
now, huge, solid, unstoppable. Muslik didn't even brace himself. He sat 
calmly, puffing on his pipe, waiting for the impact. 

It never came. 

The other Falcon filled the Screen then started to come through it,
silently and without damaging anything. Muslik watched in amazement as 
the entire Ship began passing through the Bridge in front of him. 

Kane was near him for a few seconds then was gone. Cabins, corridors,
stores, the Drive area all travelled slowly through him and the Bridge. 
He had the distinctly uncanny feeling of objects passing through him 
and himself passing through them but felt no pain. 

Then it was gone. The huge blue tail fins of the Ship floated silently
through the Bridge then disappeared through the rear walls. 

Muslik flicked the remote control to a rear view and watched on the
Screen as the other Falcon emerged from their stern then continued on 
its way along the Corridor, unmarked and undamaged. 

Muslik flicked the remote back to normal view then tossed it on to the
console. They were moving along the Corridor again as if nothing had 
happened. He leaned back in his seat absolutely stunned by what had 
occurred. He didn't even bother trying to work it out and doubted if he 
ever could. 

“Interesting!” he admitted, nodding his head. “Damned interesting!” 

Puffing happily on his pipe, he settled back more comfortably in his
seat to watch the screen, wondering what the hell was going to happen 
next. 


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