THE PLANET THAT LOVED PEOPLE (standard:science fiction, 2360 words) [14/18] show all parts
Author: Danny Raven	Added: Mar 05 2016	Views/Reads: 1919/1458	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
PART 1 - CH 13

THIRTEEN 

The prisoners were in the briefing room again the following day. 

“I trust you enjoyed the evenings diversions, gentlemen?” Tyler asked,
smiling round at them from behind the desk. 

Sinto yawned loudly and stretched contentedly. A hazy smile crept on to
Miller's face. Kane felt the usual hatred stirring when Tyler looked at 
him but it was only a brief glance. 

“Right, your attention please,” Tyler went on. “Today's session covers
the mission – where you're going, why you're going, what you have to do 
when you get there.” 

They were interested now in spite of themselves. 

Tyler pressed a button on his belt and the room lights dimmed and two
adjacent wall screens flickered to life. ”Watch and listen carefully,” 
he said to them. “These are the last films from the Fleet Battle 
Cruiser Zenon before it was destroyed.” 

The pictures on the wall screens went black then the prisoners heard the
tinny amplified voice saying, “We're in the Corridor. Are you picking 
us up?” 

Tyler's voice replied. “Faintly. Do you read me?” 

“You and the cheering,” replied the Captain. “How are the pictures?” 

The prisoners stared at the screens. One of them showed the Bridge crew
on the Zenon but there was nothing on the other then they heard Tyler 
saying, “The Observation Screen's black. Is something--” 

“There's some kind of light ahead!” another voice cut in. 

‘The Pilot,' thought Kane. 

On the second wall screen in the briefing room they saw the weak
greenish/purplish glow from the Zenon's forward observation scanner 
just as the Bridge crew had done one month previously. 

“What is it?” they heard Tyler asking. 

“An energy source of some kind,” said the First Officer. “Light
producing only. There's no movement.” 

As the massive green and purple triangles appeared on the screen, Kane
glanced at Muslik who shrugged and shook his head. Even Sinto watched 
engrossed as the Ship passed through this section, the colossal 
triangles pulsing as if alive and dwarfing the Battle Cruiser. 

“How far to the sides of the Corridor now?” they heard the Captain ask. 

“One space mile on either side and there's no sign of it narrowing,”
they heard the Navigator reply. 

“Big Corridor,” Kane muttered to Muslik. 

“So far,” Muslik replied. 

The prisoners watched as the Zenon avoided the huge, spiked ball rolling
along the top of the Corridor and then encountered the fantastically 
coloured, undulating shapes which passed through the Ship and the crew. 
Again Kane glanced at Muslik but again he shrugged and shook his head. 

“What are they?” Blaze asked. “Those coloured things?” 

But Tyler held up his hand for silence. Miller, who hadn't quite
recovered from his Dreamtrip, thought the light show was fantastic. 

Next they watched as the Zenon was trapped by the yellow net which
stretched across the Corridor then burst through it. 

“We lose contact with them about here,” Tyler told the prisoners, “but


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