THE PLANET THAT LOVED PEOPLE (standard:science fiction, 2360 words) [14/18] show all parts
Author: Danny Raven	Added: Mar 05 2016	Views/Reads: 1920/1458	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
PART 1 - CH 13

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

we can still see and hear them and we're still receiving the pictures 
from their forward scanner.” 

On one of the screens in the briefing room they could see the Corridor
slowly beginning to narrow until it became like the inside of a rocky 
cave with tunnels branching off here and there and being continually 
lit up by  zigzagging bolts of bright blue lightning. The Zenon, now 
without Drive power, was constantly steering this way and that to avoid 
the immense rocky outcrops and the stalactite and stalagmite 
formations. Then they saw the massive circular striped ball coming 
silently down the centre of the Corridor towards the Ship. 

“Take that tunnel to the left,” they heard the Captain order the Pilot. 

“We don't know how narrow it is inside,” he warned. 

“We don't have much choice, do we?” said the Captain. 

‘None at all,' thought Kane, watching the rapidly approaching massive,
red and yellow ball. 

Then the Ship was turning into the tunnel and they heard the hull
grinding against the sides as it entered. 

“Twenty yards and closing!” they heard the Navigator announce. 

‘Time to say bye-bye,' thought Kane. 

“Prepare the emergency pods,” they heard the Captain order the First
Officer. “Take a party and some laser rifles and blow the escape 
hatches.” 

‘You'll never make it,' thought Muslik. 

“Prepare to abandon Ship!” the Captain said. “Navigator and Pilot remain
at their posts. Everybody else to the emergency pods.” 

“Ten yards!” said the Navigator. 

As the picture on the screen grew narrower they heard the Captain say,
“Lock steering and let's go.” 

‘Too late,' thought Kane, seeing what the Pilot had seen. 

In silence, the prisoners watched the gigantic fork of lightning
zigzagging along the tunnel towards the Ship. They heard the Captain 
yelling something but couldn't make him out. The massive fork zapped 
into the side of the passage a few feet away from the Zenon, sending 
huge chunks of rock showering against it. Then it was heading straight 
for the Ship. There was a blinding, brilliant, blue-white flash on the 
screen, they heard some brief screaming, then there was silence. 

Tyler allowed the film to run on awhile in the darkened room. The
prisoners were still staring at the screens as if they were willing the 
Ship to come back on. Tyler pressed a button on his belt and the room 
lights slowly brightened and the wall screens died. 

When he finally spoke his voice sounded unnaturally loud in the quiet
room. “Those were the last films we received from the Fleet Battle 
Cruiser Zenon. Before it several other Ships disappeared in the same 
area without trace. In the last two years we have lost four Ships and 
over five hundred crew. These films,” he said, “are all we have.” 

“They've been expensive films to make,” Kane remarked dryly. 

Tyler nodded at him. “Four Ships and five hundred crew. All vanished in
the same area.” He looked round them slowly. “You gentlemen are the 
next crew.” 

The prisoners glanced at each other. 

Kane asked it for them all. “Where are we going?” 

“Outside the known Universe,” Tyler replied. “Through a Corridor inside
a Black Hole that leads to who knows what....and who knows where.” 

Kane rubbed at the stubble on his face and glanced round to see how the
others were taking the news. Corthan was gazing out the window, 
unimpressed. Blaze, highly impressed, was dematerializing round the 
room saying “Wow!” every time he appeared. Muslik was staring straight 
ahead, a half-smile on his face, puffing away on his pipe. Sinto wanted 
to kill Tyler but couldn't get at him. Miller was looking decidedly 
jumpy and was lighting a cigarette with a shaky hand. 

“Suppose we disappear as well?” Sinto barked. 

“The loss of yet another Ship would be regretted but you six are
expendable,” Tyler answered bluntly. “Which is why you're going. The 
Fleet are not all that keen about any more missions to this area. In 
fact we would have nothing short of a mutiny on our hands if we tried 
to force another crew to go....but who's going to miss six lifers from 
Sirene?” 

‘Just the way I pictured it,' thought Kane. 

“How'd you like to drop that force-field for just one minute?” Sinto
asked. 

Tyler beamed at him then raised his hand to his mouth and spoke some
instructions into his wrist radio. Shortly afterwards the room door 
slid open and a balding, elderly gentleman strolled in. He was wearing 
the light green uniform of the Fleet Astro-Physics Division and had a 
likeable, chubby face. 

“Gentlemen,” Tyler said, “if you would kindly give the Professor here
your attention he will increase your no doubt sketchy knowledge of 
Black Holes and recent space exploration. Professor.” 

The Professor strolled over, nodded at Tyler then perched himself on the
edge of the desk and peered curiously at the strange group in front of 
him. “So you're the volunteers, eh!? Very brave of you, very brave, 
considering what's happened to the other Ships. On behalf of the Fleet 
Astro-Exploration Division I'd like to thank you for volunteering for 
this mission. It's reassuring, especially these days, to meet men like 
you who still have the old pioneer spirit.” 

Behind him, Tyler smiled broadly at the expressions on the prisoners'
faces. 

“You look very young for a mission like this,” the Professor said,
peering at Blaze. 

“I'm a computer expert,” Blaze told him, believing himself. 

Around the room, the other prisoners supressed sniggers. 

“So am I!” the Professor said, beaming at him. 

“Perhaps we could have a chat about them sometime,” the computer
whiz-kid suggested. 

“Certainly!” agreed the Professor. “At the moment I'm working on the
possibilities--” 

“Professor!” Tyler interrupted. “Black Holes.” 

“What? The Professor asked, turning to him. “Ah yes, Black Holes.” He
turned back to the prisoners and began. “As most of you probably know, 
Black Holes were first discovered thousands of years ago. At that time 
however, Earth was too busy exploring and colonising other planets to 
bother with them and anyway, Black Holes were commonly held to be 
collapsed stars and consequently of not much interest.” 

Sinto yawned loudly causing Miller to snigger. 

The Professor seemed unaware of the noise. He continued, warming to his
subject. “The years of space exploration continued but all the time we 
were striving for the ultimate breakthrough that would allow us to 
visit the most remote corners of the known Universe. Eventually we made 
it – we discovered a type of nuclear fuel that allowed us to travel 
just fractionally slower than the speed of light and now those remote 
places were truly opened up for us. This in turn led to a further 
tremendous discovery.” 

“What was that, Professor?” a genuinely interested Blaze asked. 

The Professor beamed at him. “We discovered that certain parts of the
known Universe were finite, had boundaries. This being so and with lots 
of the habitable planets now colonised, Earth turned its attention to 
other areas of exploration. It was decided to take a closer look at 
Black Holes. One in particular interested us a great deal – the one you 
are going to visit.” 

“Why this one?” asked Kane. 

“Because it's right on one of the known Universe's rare static
boundaries! It straddles it!” answered the Professor, jumping up from 
the desk in his excitement. 

Miller looked edgier when he heard this. What followed next made him
even worse. Nervously he lit another cigarette. 

The Professor forced himself to calm down and perched himself back on
the desk before he went on. “The first thing we did was to send an 
unmanned Survey Ship to investigate but as soon as it approached the 
Black Hole it was sucked down into it and destroyed. A second manned 
Survey Ship was sent but we were more careful this time and it remained 
at a safe distance while surveying.” 

“Wish we could stay at a safe distance,” Miller muttered to Sinto who
grinned back at him. 

The Professor smiled indulgently at them. “On several of the high
resolution close-up pictures the second Ship sent back there was an 
area on the Hole which puzzled us very much. A lighter area which 
looked like some sort of opening. Closer inspection revealed it to be 
the entrance of a Corridor. So the co-ordinates of the Corridor were 
plotted and relayed to Earth and the Ship then fed them into its own 
computer and approached. It was sucked in of course but this time from 
the correct angle and so entered the Corridor. Of course,” he said, 
frowning, “we never heard anything from it after that.” 

“So you have the correct entry co-ordinates for the Corridor?” Muslik
asked innocently. 

“I have them up here!” the Professor replied, beaming. He closed his
eyes and concentrated. “They are--” 

“That's enough, Professor!” Tyler quickly cut in. “You'll receive the
co-ordinates later,” he told the prisoners. 

It was too late - Muslik already had them. 

“Continue Professor,” Tyler instructed. 

“Hold on, Professor,” said Kane. “I thought nothing could escape a Black
Hole's atmosphere? That means the Corridor must have an external 
entrance from the edge of its gravity field.” 

The Professor grinned. “It does!  Exactly at the edge! Isn't it
fabulous!?” 

“Overwhelming,” Miller muttered. 

The Professor beamed and continued. “Now that we had all the
co-ordinates we sent a third manned Ship into the Corridor however it 
disappeared as well. The Battle Cruiser Zenon was the last and it too 
vanished but at least we know it got half-way through and you've just 
seen the films.” 

“Why not send an android crew?” Kane asked. 

“Android crews are excellent for normal inter-planetary journeys,” the
Professor explained. “They are not too good however when instant 
decisions have to be made and sharp reactions are needed. For that we 
need people like you.” 

“So now we're going through the Corridor,” Miller said unhappily. 

“Exactly,” said Tyler. “To find out what is through the other side of it
– another Universe perhaps?” 

“Doesn't the Corridor come out in this Universe?” Miller asked
hopefully. 

“Definitely not,” answered the Professor. “As I said earlier, this
particular Black Hole is on one of the rare static boundaries of the 
known Universe so obviously a Corridor inside it must lead to...to...,” 
he trailed off, frowning, “somewhere else I suppose.” 

“Couldn't it be a dead-end?” Miller asked hopefully. 

During the laughter that followed Tyler thanked the Professor then spoke
some instructions into his wrist-radio. 

The Professor strode over to the door and as it slid open he turned and
smiled at Blaze. “A pleasure to meet you!” he called, waving. 

“You too, Professor,” the computer expert replied, waving back to him. 

When the Professor had left, Tyler wrapped up the session. “Now that you
are aware of your destination and what happened to the previous Ships 
and what will possibly happen to you,” he said, “I'm sure some of you 
might not be all that keen on going.” 

The cursed replies from Sinto and Miller confirmed this. 

“So don't forget, gentlemen,” he said, his voice hard, “that I have
extremely effective methods with clone-pain and clone-death of ensuring 
your continued co-operation. To refuse to go would incur a much worse 
fate than whatever awaits you inside the Corridor...believe me it 
would.” 


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