friend like this. I’m sorry.”
Karl came round to the other end of the table. He put his arm around Sandy and moved her away from the corpse. “This has been a rough day for all of us. A real rough day. Do yourself a favor and get out of here. I work better alone anyway.”
“No, I’ll get over it. I just feel a little queasy in the gut.”
“I think it’s better for you to miss this,” he said firmly.
Sandy was relieved. “Are you sure you don’t need me?”
“I’m positive. When I’m finished with Ricky, I’ll call you and we can get started on the creature. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Once Sandy was gone, Karl set about his gruesome task. He cut into Ricky’s skull with his laser scalpel. He separated the bone with his hands and what he found was totally beyond his understanding. There was no substance of any type remaining. Except for the bone and an orange-colored fluid it was empty. There was only a liquid similar—very similar—to that which remained when the crystals melted.
Karl felt he had to share the information with Holly and called her immediately. “Can you come down here right away?”
“What is it?”
“I’d rather not talk about it over the communicator. Please come quickly.”
Karl made a slide of the liquid from Ricky’s skull and placed it under the microscope. As he’d suspected, its composition was very similar to that of the dissolved crystals.
“Can you let me in on it now?” Holly asked. She was bounding through the laboratory portal.
“Take a look at both of these slides.”
She did. “I’m no expert but they look identical to me.”
Then Karl told her where each had come from.
“There’s more, isn’t there?”
Karl motioned her over to the examining table. He gripped the broken shell of Ricky’s skull in his hands and pulled it apart.
“What have you done with his brain?” she asked.
“He had no brain.”
CHAPTER
FOUR
G ary didn’t usually mind doing night-watch. Usually, it meant the occasional glance at the monitor screens and a casual stroll up and down the corridors every few hours. He didn’t mind the assignment—not normally. But this night was different. Everyone was jumpy—real nervous after everything that had occurred. And Holly telling him to be particularly careful not to doze off hadn’t done anything for his nerves. She knew a few hours of shut-eye didn’t hurt anybody. After all, if she expected him to do a full day’s work the next day, he’d have to get some rest, wouldn’t he?
He sat in the control room, his feet propped up on the console with a cheap novel resting in his lap. Even lurid sex and outrageous violence paled in comparison to the real-life adventure that day. They sure didn’t teach him about any of this in the Academy. Oh no! Not those tight-assed professors. They had no idea what it was like any more. Most of them had retired so long ago they wouldn’t recognise the inside of a module.
“Oh well,” Gary shrugged. “I suppose if they were any good they’d be doing, not teaching.”
Gary was a doer. He left home when he was fourteen years old. He packed one bag and stowed away on a craft programmed for a three-year journey. He hid in the supply chamber and didn’t come out until the ship had passed the point of no-return.
The commander had no choice but to keep Gary aboard. But he worked hard and he learned. He paid his way with sweat and toil. The crew took to him and officially designated him cabin boy.
The commander was a kindly man but he was strict. He laid out a regimented routine for Gary which included his chores, academic study and practical training. During his time on the craft—the Columbia —he did four different apprenticeships and mastered them all.
When the craft returned, Gary was seventeen and he became the youngest person ever to be accepted by the Academy. It wasn’t an easy four years. He often found himself in heated arguments with his instructors. He’d gone through so
Karl came round to the other end of the table. He put his arm around Sandy and moved her away from the corpse. “This has been a rough day for all of us. A real rough day. Do yourself a favor and get out of here. I work better alone anyway.”
“No, I’ll get over it. I just feel a little queasy in the gut.”
“I think it’s better for you to miss this,” he said firmly.
Sandy was relieved. “Are you sure you don’t need me?”
“I’m positive. When I’m finished with Ricky, I’ll call you and we can get started on the creature. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Once Sandy was gone, Karl set about his gruesome task. He cut into Ricky’s skull with his laser scalpel. He separated the bone with his hands and what he found was totally beyond his understanding. There was no substance of any type remaining. Except for the bone and an orange-colored fluid it was empty. There was only a liquid similar—very similar—to that which remained when the crystals melted.
Karl felt he had to share the information with Holly and called her immediately. “Can you come down here right away?”
“What is it?”
“I’d rather not talk about it over the communicator. Please come quickly.”
Karl made a slide of the liquid from Ricky’s skull and placed it under the microscope. As he’d suspected, its composition was very similar to that of the dissolved crystals.
“Can you let me in on it now?” Holly asked. She was bounding through the laboratory portal.
“Take a look at both of these slides.”
She did. “I’m no expert but they look identical to me.”
Then Karl told her where each had come from.
“There’s more, isn’t there?”
Karl motioned her over to the examining table. He gripped the broken shell of Ricky’s skull in his hands and pulled it apart.
“What have you done with his brain?” she asked.
“He had no brain.”
CHAPTER
FOUR
G ary didn’t usually mind doing night-watch. Usually, it meant the occasional glance at the monitor screens and a casual stroll up and down the corridors every few hours. He didn’t mind the assignment—not normally. But this night was different. Everyone was jumpy—real nervous after everything that had occurred. And Holly telling him to be particularly careful not to doze off hadn’t done anything for his nerves. She knew a few hours of shut-eye didn’t hurt anybody. After all, if she expected him to do a full day’s work the next day, he’d have to get some rest, wouldn’t he?
He sat in the control room, his feet propped up on the console with a cheap novel resting in his lap. Even lurid sex and outrageous violence paled in comparison to the real-life adventure that day. They sure didn’t teach him about any of this in the Academy. Oh no! Not those tight-assed professors. They had no idea what it was like any more. Most of them had retired so long ago they wouldn’t recognise the inside of a module.
“Oh well,” Gary shrugged. “I suppose if they were any good they’d be doing, not teaching.”
Gary was a doer. He left home when he was fourteen years old. He packed one bag and stowed away on a craft programmed for a three-year journey. He hid in the supply chamber and didn’t come out until the ship had passed the point of no-return.
The commander had no choice but to keep Gary aboard. But he worked hard and he learned. He paid his way with sweat and toil. The crew took to him and officially designated him cabin boy.
The commander was a kindly man but he was strict. He laid out a regimented routine for Gary which included his chores, academic study and practical training. During his time on the craft—the Columbia —he did four different apprenticeships and mastered them all.
When the craft returned, Gary was seventeen and he became the youngest person ever to be accepted by the Academy. It wasn’t an easy four years. He often found himself in heated arguments with his instructors. He’d gone through so
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