SURVIVOR is a digital serial novel. The series is scheduled for two seasons and a final showdown novel. This collector’s pack includes all twelve episodes of the season one.
Peter Anderson, born in 1965, was trained as a management assistant in publishing and studied German language and literature before working full-time as an editorial director. He now lives as a free-lance editor, translator and author.
Arndt Drechsler, born in 1969, has been working as a professional free-lance artist since 1991, primarily in the science fiction field. He created book covers for several German publishing houses, including, among others, the popular Perry Rhodan series.
Ryan Nash, Commander of the SURVIVOR mission and Ex-Navy-SEAL, is acquainted with danger. But what is waiting for him at the end of his adventurous journey exceeds the most fantastic expectations — and his greatest fears.
Dr Gabriel Proctor, chief scientist of the project. A genius with an IQ so high that it presumably cannot be measured. Only he knows the true purpose of the mission. But what does Dr Proctor really know, and what are his intentions?
Jacques D'Abo, known as Jabo. A black man from the suburbs of Paris, where it was a crime to be black. His special abilities helped him to survive in a tough milieu and have made him suspicious against everybody. Even himself.
Maria dos Santos. In the small village in the Andes Mountains where she grew up, she was revered as a saint for her healing powers — and later cast out as a spawn of the Devil. Maria may be no witch, but she is far from being a saint.
Ai Rogers, half English and half Chinese, was born in Hong Kong. After the handover of the crown colony to China, she grew up in a communist re-education camp. Is she a victim of an inhuman system, a ruthless killer — or both?
SURVIVOR
Episode 1
Blackout
CERN Research Center, Switzerland
21 December 2012
The day the world ended began, for most people, like any other day. But for Dr Eva Kessler it was going to be the best day of her life, the day she had been waiting for.
“10 — 9 — 8 …”
In the underground chambers at CERN that housed the huge particle accelerator, all people held their collective breath. Through the thick reinforced glass of the observation room they all stared at the massive ellipsoid ship which, in a few seconds, would take Commander Ryan Nash and his team on a journey from which they possibly might never return.
None of the team had even considered the possibility that the mission would cause a catastrophe.
“7 — 6 …”
When the countdown got to five, a great humming began, rising to a roar that made even the reinforced glass vibrate. The exterior of the ship seemed to change shape, to oscillate, crackling and gleaming until the entire contraption was consumed by a blue light.
“3 — 2 — 1 …”
What followed was a vision straight from a surreal dream. The ship appeared to liquefy, losing all form until, as the countdown reached zero, the entire fabric of the vessel appeared to swallow itself up, shrinking in the blink of an eye to an unimaginably tiny point.
The Survivor had vanished, taking Ryan Nash and his team with it. They had quite literally dematerialized, to reappear, hopefully, at another spot on the far side of the universe.
Eva Kessler released the pent-up breath she had hardly been aware she was holding. For ten years she had worked on the development of this project and, given the setbacks that had beset it over time, she could scarcely believe this moment had arrived.
Standing next to her, Dr Peter Kasanov was looking at the readout on the screen. Kasanov was in overall charge of the experiment and — truth be told — it was his genius that had realized mankind’s greatest dream. And even though they had finally arrived at this point, still he couldn’t relax. Over the years they had worked together he had rarely let a smile cross his face. This was his life’s ambition, his great work. His dream.
“Congratulations,” Eva Kessler said excitedly. “It worked! They’re on their way.”
“Yes,” Kasanov said dryly without taking his eyes from the screen. “The key is on its way.”
“Key? What key?” Kessler asked, confused.
He didn’t answer. Instead he gave her a broad smile, the one thing she had never before seen him do.
Before she could repeat the question, an alarm sounded. Kessler glanced down at the screen and caught her breath.
What she was looking at was simply not possible.
The computer seemed to be showing that in the room beyond the glass the energy that had sucked the ship into infinity was now increasing, growing stronger, more powerful with every microsecond.
Kessler felt the hairs on her arms rise, felt the electricity crackling in the air around them. And she smelt ozone.
Suddenly a bolt of lightning crashed through the room beyond the glass and split into a thousand forks. The machinery and measuring instruments glowed with an eldritch light as the energy imploded, sending sparks everywhere. The screens flickered. A few of them went blank. Others showed absurd readings, impossible measurements.
Where the ship had been there was now an impenetrable blackness, a bubble of energy expanding and casting a pure black light that scorched the retinas of their eyes. Black sparks collided off the walls like tiny bullets.
“Antimatter alarm,” Kessler shouted. “The experiment is out of control. My God, we’ve created a black hole!”
The overhead lights went out in the control room and in the room beyond. The flickering monitor screens lit the faces of those standing there enough to show each one of them growing paler by the second. They heard a rumbling growling noise and then a bang like the clap of distant thunder. Two more of the screens failed. The electronic equipment began to emit sparks and flicker with the same unreal light. Everything in the room beyond the glass that was not fastened to the floor was sucked into the black bubble and vanished. Kessler began typing rapidly on her keyboard, trying to stop the inevitable.
“Do something, Peter. For God’s sake, we have to try.”
“The key has been sent,” he replied in an unemotional voice. “Nothing else matters.”
Shocked, Kessler felt like screaming at the lunatic, surely he understood what was at stake here if that really was a black hole on the other side of the reinforced glass. It could swallow the continent, the entire planet…
But Peter Kasanov gave the strange impression of a man perfectly at ease with what was unfolding before him.
Before Kessler could even give it another thought, everything exploded, the black energy bubble rushing towards her. In a split second it spread out in all directions sucking in the entire room around it. It engulfed the reinforced glass, the lights, the tables, all the electronic equipment. And it engulfed the scientists standing next to it. Everything, the entire research laboratory was swallowed up in a fraction of a second.
Dr Peter Kasanov died knowing he had destroyed everything in existence, and everything that had ever existed.
So that it might start all over again.
An island off the coast of North Korea
They didn’t even have to fire a shot. Cho had gone for an old fashioned Makarov handgun when they stormed the building, but Ryan Nash had sent it flying from his hand.
Now the family, Cho, his wife holding the baby, and their two sons aged eight and ten, were cowering before Nash and his five-man Navy SEAL team. All of them were whimpering pathetically and the wife was shaking all over.
Cho said something in Korean, deliberately, so that Nash wouldn’t understand, even though he knew from the narcotics team that the old bugger spoke reasonable English.
“Where is General Yang,” Nash asked him for the second time, pressing the muzzle of his Swiss-made SIG Sauer, a variant specially commissioned for the American Special Forces, to Cho’s head.
“Where is Yang?”
Cho said something else in Korean.
Nash had had enough. He wanted answers. He grabbed the bigger, ten-year-old boy and put the gun to his head.
“Yang?” he shouted. “Where is Yang? Talk, or the boy dies.”
Cho stared at him inscrutably.
“Commander,” one of Nash’s men interrupted with a worried expression. “You can’t just …”
“WHERE IS YANG?”
Cho remained silent.
Nash pulled the trigger …
… and woke up with a scream.
He would have sat bolt upright if it hadn’t been for the solid restraining belt that held him in the cradle seat within his cryo-capsule.
That had been one hell of a dream. Surely he would never shoot an innocent child.
The CERN researchers had told him that dreams while they were in cryogenic sleep would be so intense they might seem real, but that one had felt all too real. He could practically feel the gun in his hand.
He wiped the sweat from his brow. Strange — surely he should be cold waking up from cryogenic sleep — but his sleeping suit was covered with drops of his own sweat that had seeped out through the black material. The air felt sticky and moist, not at all what the scientists had predicted. They had supposed that after making the jump the interior of the ship would be like a deep freeze.
That’s almost certainly not going to be the only surprise in an expedition like this one, Ryan thought to himself. At least we’ve arrived in one piece.
With one practiced movement he undid his safety belt and sat up, hitting his head on the low ceiling and cursing to himself. From the outside the ship looked as big as a house, but beneath the armor plating there was so much high technology kit that there was little room left for the five astronauts, or whatever you wanted to call them.
Slowly Nash’s eyes got used to the low emergency lighting which illuminated the commando team and the equipment in a red glow.
He looked over at the other four cryo-capsules which had also opened automatically, a bit too early he realized. The ship had been supposed to do an automatic routine check of all its systems and the atmosphere of the planet outside before waking the crew from their deep freeze. But one glance at the screen of the central control system told him that it hadn’t happened.
The other four team members, Jabo, Maria, Ai and Proctor, were gradually coming to. They were probably the best team Ryan had ever worked with. Even during his time with the Navy SEALS he had never worked with a group he could trust so completely. Their competence was extraordinary.
But then so was the friendship that existed between them, he mused. Particularly his own with Jabo. He was older than Nash, early-forties with skin as black as night and had grown up in the banlieues of Paris, that miserable band of high-rise blocks that ringed the metropolis. His parents were devout Muslims who had come from the Ivory Coast originally. Jabo was a great hunk of a man with the physique of a bodybuilder, who pumped iron every minute he could to keep in shape. Jabo’s only problem was his lack of respect and constant tetchiness. He was impossible to keep out of a fight, although more than once Ryan had been glad of his friend’s strength. Jabo had become his best friend over the years spent preparing for this mission.
Maria and Ai had sat up in their cradle seats and were looking round them, dazed. Only Proctor hadn’t woken up yet. He was still lying motionless in his cryo-capsule.
As he slowly came to, Ryan realized what it was that had been troubling him subconsciously since he woke up: there was something wrong, something seriously wrong. The emergency lighting, the early opening of the cryo-capsules, the failure to carry out the routine check … it could all mean only one thing. If he was right they were in big trouble.
Ryan leapt from his cradle seat and dashed to the control panel. All the lights and indicators were blank. He ran his fingers over the keyboard. Nothing. Everything was dead. The ship was in a state of total blackout. A shiver ran down his spine. A power outage like this was supposed to be impossible. The neutrino power cell that powered the ship was their return ticket. It was supposed to harbor sufficient power to get them from Earth to their destination and back twice.
Ryan bent over the long pipes that contained the neutrino cell. In all the time they had spent rehearsing this had never happened. Obviously they could try to reactivate the mechanism and, hopefully, bring the cells back to life. The problem was it took two members of the crew acting simultaneously to access the cell. Ryan, as commander, had one of the access codes, but it was Dr Gabriel Proctor, the mission’s scientific leader, who had the other.
But Proctor hadn’t woken up yet. He needed him. Without power they had no more than half an hour before the oxygen would run out and they all suffocated. He went across to the cryo-capsule. Proctor lay there in front of him, motionless. Ryan lifted the glass cover of the cryo-capsule and touched Proctor. The man’s skin was ice-cold. Ryan felt for his pulse and froze: he could hardly detect Proctor’s heartbeat, and his breathing was shallow.
There was a little screen under a cover on one side of the capsule which had an emergency power source of its own that monitored the sleeper’s body functions. The line showing Proctor’s heartbeat was all but flat. There was no doubt about it. Proctor was dying.
Ryan had to do something. Fast. Without Proctor to help him they were stranded here and pretty soon all of them would be dead. He felt Jabo push in behind him and take a deep breath. They would find a solution, between them. Their training had proved they were an invincible team. He turned round to the big man:
“Jabo, we don’t have much time, because …”
Jabo stared at him. “How do you know my name?” he asked. “Just who are you anyway?”
CERN Research facility, Switzerland
Three years earlier
Ryan Nash followed Dr Eva Kessler into the lift that took them deep down into CERN’s underground research facilities. Ryan’s military superior, Admiral Bedford, had called the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire a real ‘Disneyland for Scientists’, and although this was only Ryan’s second visit, he’d already seen things he wouldn’t have believed possible. The people here were working on sensational, unique and enigmatic projects. And now Ryan Nash was about to be introduced to the institution’s best kept secret.
“If you want to serve humanity to peaceful ends with your skills, Ryan, then it could be that this operation is the hand of fate,” Bedford had told him two days earlier at the headquarters of the US military intelligence service NSA in Maryland.
And indeed Ryan was glad to call a halt to a seemingly endless chain of combat missions. But truth be told, it was curiosity above anything else that had brought him to Switzerland. The project he was about to join sounded like science fiction but if he was lucky it was his ticket to a better, more civilian lifestyle. At the worst it could be a boring laboratory experiment that would at least allow him a sightseeing trip to Europe.
The lift began moving with a gentle sigh and soon they were plummeting silently into the depths.
“When did the first experiment succeed?” Ryan asked.
“A year or so ago,” replied Dr Eva Kessler, the head of CERN who, despite her glasses and lab coat, certainly didn’t fit the usual cliché of a dust-dry female scientist. “It’s a very complicated process and, to be honest with you, we haven’t yet got it completely under control. Every now and then there are minor mishaps…”
“Mishaps?”
“Things don’t keep exactly the same form they had before the experiment.”
“Very reassuring.” He replied, dryly.
The lift stopped and the doors opened. Ryan followed Kessler down a long corridor to a large steel bulkhead. The scientist put her hand on a scanner pad and the bulkhead vanished in front of Ryan’s eyes, allowing them to pass through.
“After you, Commander,” said Kessler, standing back to let him go first.
They entered a hall dominated by an ellipsoid capsule that was as big as a house, held upright by a large steel frame. The upper part was obviously not quite finished yet, and there was an open rear section with exposed wires and circuit boards which had, in the middle, a small room containing five strangely shaped shells.
An older man in a white lab coat came straight up to them and held out his hand to Ryan. “Mr Nash, I believe? It’s good to have you here at last.”
“May I present Dr Peter Kasanov,” Eva Kessler said, “He is more or less the father of the whole SURVIVOR project.”
Ryan shook his hand. Kasanov was a wiry, almost gaunt figure of a man with a face lined and creased, but the way he held himself showed a remarkable vitality and stamina for a man his age. His eyes radiated the self-confidence of a person who had seen and been through a lot and was not likely to be shocked by anything new. Ryan couldn’t shake off the feeling that he had met him somewhere before, even though he had no idea where it might have been.
“I’m guessing you haven’t yet been told precisely why you are here?” Kasanov said. “I’ve never been quite able to get used to the climate of secrecy here.”
Kasanov was clearly a man who liked to get straight to the point, a quality Ryan appreciated.
“I’m sure you’re aware that we — humanity, that is — have big problems with our energy reserves here on Earth,” Kasanov went on.
“Of course,” Ryan said. “I’ve spent the last few years working to gain access to more reserves.”
“Then you will know we cannot rely much longer on fossil fuels such as oil. That goes for most other resources too. They are all running out, and when they do the consequences will be catastrophic.” Kasanov led Kessler and Ryan over to the ellipsoid capsule. “By then, if not before, all semblance of order on our planet will have broken down, unless of course someone is able to find an alternative.”
Ryan began to realize that the SURVIVOR project was concerned with something a lot more important than he had previously imagined. It certainly didn’t sound like a boring laboratory experiment.
“We have long known that there are gigantic reserves of raw materials on planets that exist beyond the range where man has ever gone,” Kasanov continued. “Reserves that are literally lying around waiting for someone to come and pick them up.”
“Great idea,” said Ryan, “if only we had some way of getting there.”
“Exactly, that’s the problem, or I should say, that was the problem.” Kasanov paused for effect, before smiling and adding. “I’ve solved it.”
By now they were standing next to the capsule. Close up it looked even more massive. On one side there was an open entrance allowing them a glance into the small interior. Whoever or whatever it was intended to support wouldn’t have much space.
Kasanov walked up to the capsule and put his hand on the metal. “Commander Nash,” he said, “may I introduce you to your ship, the Survivor. I am going to send you somewhere no human being has ever been.”
Ryan looked at Kasanov. Maybe his trip to Switzerland hadn’t been such a good idea after all.
“You want to send me in this … thing … to a planet hundreds of light years away, so I can pick up some lumps of rock that will allow you to heat your penthouse?” Ryan asked him disbelievingly.
Going home and getting involved in another life-threatening mission for the NSA was hardly appealing but it made a lot more sense than listening to this load of crap.
“That’s putting it rather simply,” Kasanov replied. “But, essentially, yes. You’ve hit the nail on the head. That’s exactly what we want you to do.”
“With all due respect, I think you’ve been watching too much Star Trek. Even if you could get this thing to fly at the speed of light, I’d be an old man before I got to your planet.”
“How you get there is something you’ll have to leave to me,” said Kasanov. “There are ways and means you know nothing about.”
“On the contrary, Dr Kessler has already told me about your transportation system. And about the ‘mishaps’,” Ryan replied. “I’m not letting myself get locked into that thing to be whooshed off somewhere else … to rematerialize in a different shape.”
The thinnest of smiles fleeted across Kasanov’s face. “Oh yes you are. And you’re going to thank me for it.” He took a step closer to Ryan and looked him up and down. “Apart from anything else your — what shall we call it? — your gift will be very useful to this project.”
Ryan stared at him.
Only a very few people knew of his extraordinary ability. Even the NSA had redacted all mention of it in their files. Where had Kasanov got his information from?
Eva Kessler took him gently by the arm and led him up a metal staircase to a one-way observation room where two women and a man who had obviously been watching them were waiting.
“At first these people reacted exactly as you did, Commander Nash,” Eva Kessler said. “I would like you to meet your team: Maria dos Santos, Ai Rogers and Jacques d’Abo. Please get to know one another. You’re going to be spending quite a lot of time together.
The big, muscled black man Kessler had called Jacques d’Abo came over to Ryan and held out his hand.
“I’ve heard a lot about you, man, you can call me Jabo.”
“I said how do you know my name, man?” Jabo repeated.
Ryan was staring at his friend in astonishment. “What are you talking about?”
Jabo didn’t reply. Instead he stood right in front of him staring him in the face with a penetrating gaze. The red glow of the emergency lighting made him look more threatening than normal. “Who are you?”
“You know exactly who I am,” Ryan shot back, suddenly overcome with anger. “What shit is this? We’re friends, and …”
“Friends?” Jabo said sneeringly, “I’ve never laid eyes on you in my life.”
Ryan cursed Kasanov for getting him into this. He should never have got involved with this idiotic project. Now, if at least one bit of the experiment had worked properly, he was on an alien planet, thousands of light years away from the nearest emergency services. And that wasn’t his only problem: not only had his ship given up the ghost, the most important man on board was dying and his best friend seemed to have suffered total amnesia.
Ryan had found himself in all sorts of tricky situations before but this went beyond any of them. It was possible Jabo’s amnesia was a result of the cryogenic hibernation. After all no human being had ever made such an extraordinary journey before and they could only speculate, at best, on the effects it would have.
Ryan turned and glanced at Gabriel Proctor, still lying there motionlessly in his cryo-capsule. If Jabo had really lost his memory then the doctor was the only one who could get them out of this. They had no time for niceties.
Ryan looked Jabo in the face and said: “We’re in a bad way, Jabo. The ship’s power supply has died on us, and Proctor looks like he’s dying too.” He turned to Maria dos Santos: “Maria, I need your help. Come here.”
Maria looked at him uncomprehendingly without making the slightest movement.
“You know my name?” she asked. “What has happened to us?”
This is getting crazier by the minute, Ryan though. Have they all gone mad?
“Of course I know you,” he answered irritated. “I’ve known you for three years, we’ve worked together for three years. And now can we quit the comedy? That’s an order.”
“An order?” said Jabo, threateningly. “You don’t give me orders, guy.”
“Who are you two?” Maria said in a shaky voice. “Where have you brought me?”
“Don’t worry. I’m on your side,” said Jabo. He ran his hands over his face and suddenly froze. “Hey, what happened to my beard? You assholes shaved it off?”
Ryan had no idea what he was talking about. As long as he had known him Jabo had never worn a beard.
Maria looked anxiously at Jabo. “This psychopath must have brought us here.” She waved towards Ryan. I can’t remember anything. What are these things?” She indicated the cryo-capsules.
Her words struck Ryan like a blow to the body. Did she really not remember who he was? What they had between them?
The fear in her eyes was agonizing for him.
“For the last time, guys, can we stop this nonsense? If Proctor dies,” he said, “we’re done for. This man is our one last hope.”
Nobody answered. Ai, who hadn’t said a word, Maria and Jabo just stared at Ryan.
Finally Maria broke the silence. She lifted a hand to her lips and whispered, “And am I speaking English?”
Jabo stared at her: “You’re right,” he gasped. “I’m speaking that Yankee gibberish too.”
“Of course you’re speaking English,” said Ryan. “What else would you be speaking?”
“But I only have a little English,” said Maria.
“Rubbish,” said Ryan. “You’ve been speaking English ever since we …”
But she wasn’t listening to him any more. She whirled round and in a few short steps was at the exit hatch, trying to open it. Ryan was relieved to see that her memory loss included the knowledge of how to do so.
“We can’t get out,” he said, flatly. “The ship has suffered a total power failure. All the equipment is dead. I can’t scan the atmosphere of the planet. If you open that hatch, you could kill us all.”
Maria ceased her efforts instantly and turned round. The anger on Jabo’s face had been replaced by confusion.
“Ship?” he said. “Planet?”
At that moment a shrill alarm came from Proctor’s cryo-capsule.
Heart failure.
Ryan reacted automatically. He dashed past Jabo and grabbed the medical kit. The ship had medical facilities sufficient even for minor operations. In this case hopefully an adrenalin shot would be enough to bring Proctor back to life.
“What is this lunatic doing?” shouted Maria in horror. “Stop him!”
But Ryan was faster than Jabo and jammed the needle into Proctor’s heart. Under normal circumstances the dose would have been enough to bring an elephant round.
Ryan held his breath, watching the heart monitor.
Nothing.
Jabo grabbed hold of Ryan, shoved him against the control panel and put his hands around his throat, reminding Ryan only too painfully that he didn’t need a weapon to kill an enemy, or anyone he thought might be an enemy.
“Okay little Mister Psycho, you’re going to tell me exactly what’s going on here,” Jabo growled. “I’m going to squeeze the truth out of you, that or your life.”
His big paws tightened their grip on Ryan’s throat. He could feel himself beginning to lose consciousness. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Ai, the young half-Chinese girl, watching him, a cold little smile on her lips as though she was enjoying seeing him suffer.
Why has Ai been silent all this time? Ryan asked himself, as the world went black before his eyes.
The last thing he heard was Jabo’s growl: “Tell us where we are, you bastard!”
CERN Research facility, Switzerland
Three years earlier
“The soil of this planet contains millions of tons of the noble gas helium-3,” Dr Kessler explained. “By mining on Sircus II we will just be at the beginning of developing intergalactic resources that will solve the Earth’s energy problems forever.”
Kessler tapped the tablet computer in her hand and the display changed to reveal a picture of a planet, an animation based on the meager information gleaned from a space telescope.
Ryan leaned back in his seat and looked at the other three members of the team. From their faces he could see they regarded the idea of traveling to an alien planet as absurd as he did. Nobody has so far given any explanation as to why they above other more qualified people had been chosen for this project, although at last they were being given some details of what the plan actually entailed.
“You still haven’t actually told us where this planet is,” said Jabo.
Dr Kasanov got up from a chair in the far corner of the room and joined in the conversation for the first time since arriving in the room.
“The planet is in the solar system Sircus,” he explained. “It is still young. In millions of years’ time it is possible life could evolve there. Our observations and calculations suggest the planet Sircus II is similar to Earth: it has enough water supply and meets other conditions for it to have a breathable atmosphere for humans. It is bigger than the Earth but it has a lower mass so weights should be approximately the same as here.” He smiled at Ryan. “You’ll hardly notice any difference.”
“But if I’ve understood properly, this planet is God knows how many light years away. You still haven’t explained to us how your transportation system actually works.”
Kessler turned off the display and sat down. “Do any of you know what a wormhole is?”
“The hole a worm makes in an apple when it eats it?” Jabo answered, with a shy smile.
“Exactly,” said Kasanov. “Envision an apple. To get from one side of the apple to the other, the worm can either crawl round the surface, or he can go straight through the apple, which is a much bigger shortcut.”
“It probably makes him fatter too,” said Nash.
Kasanov ignored him and continued. “Think of that apple as the universe. This is all a huge over-simplification, of course, but if you travel through a wormhole you can go from one point to any other without taking any time. It is a theory that Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen first came up with by expanding Euclidean time mathematically to space and time, a four-dimensional, pseudo-Riemannesque multiplicity in which mass, light and electric energy — energy in any form that is — produce changes in the geometric qualities of space-time …”
“Got it,” Jabo interrupted, a broad grin spreading across his face: “Babylon 5.”
“Babylon 5?” repeated with a look of irritation and incomprehension.
“It’s a science-fiction series. On TV. They’re always sending spaceships through wormholes from one end of the universe to the other in zero point zip seconds.” He folded his hands behind his head and laid back, grinning. “I know all about that.”
Kasanov grimaced and spread his arms wide. “Excellent,” he said. “In that case we can start the training. Commander Nash, your team is ready for the journey to Sircus II.”
“I don’t think so,” Ryan countered. “At least not quite yet.”
“What do you mean by that?” asked Kessler, who had been standing silently next to them for the past few minutes.
“The ship is set up for a five-member team. So far I’ve only met three of them. I make four, so who is number five?”
“Sircus II. An alien planet? And we came here through a wormhole?” Jabo had released his grip on Ryan’s throat to allow him to explain himself. Just about. “This is bullshit, and you wouldn't believe it yourself, if someone told you.”
“The man is insane,” Maria spat. “Don’t let him out of your sight. Or he’ll kill us all. In this torture chamber. Or wherever it is he’s brought us.”
Ryan noticed Maria was speaking in short, staccato sentences, stopping to catch her breath. Jabo had more or less let go of him now but even so he still felt faint. Was it just nervous tension or was the oxygen supply running out even faster than he had feared?
“I’m telling you the truth,” Ryan tried again to convince them. “I’m not spinning a yarn. That is exactly what happened. Maria, you have to believe me.”
He glanced over at Ai who had turned her face to the wall and was listening in silence. “Ai, tell me at least you haven’t lost your memory.”
In reply she just shook her head.
Ryan had enough. “For God’s sake open your mouth and say something, woman. Help me here! Tell them I’m speaking the truth.”
Jabo grabbed him again, his hand closing like a pincer around Ryan’s throat, preventing him from breathing. The giant bent down until his face was only inches away. Ryan could smell his sweat.
“In case you haven’t understood, lunatic, this woman is dumb. She can’t speak.”
Ai nodded in confirmation.
Could it be he was still trapped in a nightmare? Because if not, he saw no likelihood of the situation resolving itself peacefully. As commander of the mission, he, had the right to use force if need be, even against his fellow crew members.
He glanced at the black metal box about six feet away against the wall. It contained five pistols, two high-powered rifles and several magazines of ammunition. Just in case the planet turned out not to be as uninhabited as the CERN researchers had assumed. Right now a horde of aliens bent on sucking his brain out would have been preferable to having to use a weapon against his friends.
“Okay,” said Jabo, “I’ve had enough of this. We’re getting out of here. Maria, try opening the door again. I’ve got a hold on this guy.”
Maria walked over to the door and began activating the mechanism that released the airlock, more calmly this time so that it looked like she might manage it. Ryan gasped. Within a few seconds she’d have the first airlock open. If she then released the second the planet’s atmosphere would rush into the ship. The planet, Ryan remembered, was said to have a breathable atmosphere for humans. But if this much had gone wrong with the trip, he wasn't so sure about that either. Perhaps they would just suffocate from lack of oxygen. Or unknown constituents in the atmosphere might corrode their lungs.
He had to stop her. If they really had all lost their memory there was only one thing he could use to shock them, his last chance of convincing them he was telling the truth and that they were the ones who had gone crazy.
Maria had fully activated the mechanism, all she had left to do was to start up the airlock opening sequence. Her fingers were only inches from the sensor.
“You can all help me save Proctor,” Ryan said, as calmly as he could. “He is our last hope. And you could help him. With your gifts.”
Maria gasped.
Jabo shot him a look.
Ai turned away.
For a few long seconds nobody said a word.
Finally Jabo broke the silence: “Our gifts? How do you know about my gift?”
“I know what special gift each one of you has,” Ryan said. He turned to Maria. “And it’s your ability I need, Maria, to save Proctor.”
She turned away from the airlock and walked over to Ryan, who was still held tightly by Jabo against the control panel. She shook her head in disbelief. “No. You can’t possibly know that.”
“Each one of us has a special gift,” Ryan said. “That’s why we were chosen for this mission.”
He looked back at Proctor, still lying motionless in his cradle seat. Then he turned his gaze back to Maria and said beseechingly: “I know that you have the gift of healing. Use it. Help him. Help Proctor!”
CERN Research facility, Switzerland
Three years earlier
After the briefing Kasanov had led them all back down to the underground laboratories, to the ellipsoid ship that Ryan thought more and more was like something out of an old science-fiction movie. Technicians in protective clothing were standing on hydraulic ramps going through long checklists and using specialist instruments on the exterior of the strange ship.
Kasanov led them around to the other side where a tall man of indeterminate age was standing. He had a shaven head and steely blue eyes which to Ryan seemed to be focused on what looked like a clipboard. Only when they were a bit closer did he realize it was a computer tablet on which the man was entering data. He was dressed in a white overall with the CERN emblem and the flag of the European Union on the sleeves.
“I’d like to introduce you to the fifth member of the team,” Kasanov said. “Dr Gabriel Proctor.”
Proctor looked up when he heard his name and greeted Ryan and the others with a brief nod.
“You have all been chosen for your unique and remarkable abilities,” Kasanov said. “If the mission should turn out to be dangerous, your gifts will be of help to you. When it comes down to it, we are sending you to a distant alien planet. What we think we know about this planet is little more than hypothetical. We hope your extraordinary abilities will help you overcome all conceivable — and inconceivable — dangers.”
Kasanov walked over to Proctor.
“Gabriel here also has a particular gift.”
“And that would be?” asked Ai.
“It’s not quite like yours,” Kasanov started. “It is somewhat … complicated.”
“Try us,” said Ryan, impatiently.
“Gabriel … knows,” Kasanov replied.
“He knows?” said Ai, in obvious confusion.
“Yes, he knows,” Kasanov nodded. “Dr Gabriel Proctor is quite probably the most intelligent man on Earth. His IQ is so high that it is beyond measurement by current tests. His brain stores all the information it receives, sorts it, orders it and draws whatever conclusions may be necessary. He just knows. More than you, faster than you, more precisely than you. Don’t ever ever question what he tells you to do. Just do what he says.”
Ryan was skeptical. “How come?” he asked, giving Proctor a sidelong glance.
“Because what Dr Kasanov means by ‘knowing’,” Proctor spoke up, “is that my brain can draw conclusions from hundreds of pieces of information and hundreds of other conclusions my brain has already come to, all within seconds.” The fashion in which he said this made it sound as if he was apologizing for himself and didn’t want to appear smarter than the others. “I’m speaking of information chains and conclusions that would normally take hours if not days to correlate,” he added.
“I get it,” said Ryan, far from convinced.
“Dr Proctor’s knowledge and his intellect could be decisive for the fate of the mission in dangerous circumstances, even for your survival,” Kasanov added.
“Great,” said Jabo. “We’ve got our very own Mr. Spock!”
As Maria looked at Proctor it was clear she was struggling to decide what to do. “No,” she said again, letting her head fall. “I simply can’t do it.”
Ryan stared at her. It was as if his best friends had suddenly morphed into other people: strangers who felt and acted completely different than the people he had known.
“I can’t force you, Maria,” said Jabo calmly. “The three of us should get out of here. If this Proctor really is a friend of this guy, it might be better if he doesn’t wake up. Who knows what they’ve been planning …”
Maria lifted her head and looked at Ryan with tears in her eyes.
‘“If you really know me as well as you say you do,” she said, the pain in her voice clearly audible, “then you know that my gift has been a curse that has haunted me all my life. I’ve sworn never to use it again.”
Her words wiped out Ryan’s final hopes. Whatever it was that had happened to them, the mission was a failure. All the research and development, the vast expenditure, the intensive training they had gone through, Kasanov’s inspired plans and the gifts they possessed that were supposed to help them succeed, none of it counted any more. They had reached the end of the road.
All of a sudden Ai gave a cough and stumbled against one of the control panels, fell to her knees and indicated with a gesture that she was having difficulty breathing. All the color had drained from her face.
“Shit, man, what’s going on here?” Jabo exclaimed. “What the hell are you doing to us, you bastard?”
“I’m not doing anything. The oxygen is running out,” said Ryan. “Unless we do something we’re going to suffocate.”
“Open the door, Maria,” Jabo ordered, his voice sounding drained and weary. “We’ve got to get out of here before we croak.”
Ryan Nash had never been a man to leave things to the whim of fate. He had been in situations before that had seemed hopeless but usually there was an option, even if it sometimes wasn’t a very pleasant one.
In his inner eye he pictured himself holding a gun to a child’s head. After that incident he had been reluctant ever to hold a weapon again. That had been one of the main reasons he volunteered for the CERN project.
But Maria had left him with no option. There was only one way to save them all. Ryan only hoped that she really had completely lost her memory.
Without warning he kneed Jabo between the legs. The giant yelled in pain and lowered his hands to protect himself. Ryan made use of the opportunity to roll to one side and in the same movement reach the armory. He flicked it open with a practiced movement and grabbed a SIG Sauer P226.
As he scrambled to his feet he saw Jabo hurtling towards him. Ryan raised the gun and fired.
The bullet hit Jabo in the stomach, bored a hole through his guts and out of his back before embedding itself in the metal hull of the ship.
Ryan knew how to fire a single shot that could be fatal but not immediately so. Jabo would live for at least three or four minutes in hellish agony. Ryan felt sick to his stomach, but knew he had no other way of persuading Maria that she had to use her gift.
Jabo collapsed to his knees moaning loudly, then fell to the ground. “You piece of Yankee scum …” he managed to splutter. “Filthy US crusader!”
Yankee scum … filthy crusader … Ryan knew Jabo’s parents had been Muslims but he had never before heard him use such extremist language.
Ryan lowered his weapon and looked at Maria. She was staring at him in abject horror as if he were one of those callous killers he had spent his life fighting. She had every reason to know otherwise, but clearly didn’t. Maria hadn’t the faintest idea who he was.
And if she really didn’t remember him, then she also didn’t remember Jabo — or his gift.
Ryan nodded towards the black Frenchman, lying on the floor with his hand clamped over his wound. Ai was on her knees next to him. From the look on her face it was clear she knew there was nothing to be done for Jabo. A wound like that was fatal.
“What’s up, Maria?” Ryan asked. “Are you just going to let him die? If you don’t do something he is going to bleed to death.”
Jabo tried to speak, but the pain was too much.
Ryan watched as Maria looked down at Jabo, and the blood oozing out from between the fingers clamped over his wound. Ai had Jabo’s head in her lap and her dark eyes were staring at Maria.
Maria fell to her knees, ran her fingers over Jabo’s body and whispered. “It’s going to be okay. I’ll save him. Don’t worry.”
Gently she inserted her fingers into the hole in Jabo’s suit and stroked her thumb and index finger around the wound. She shot a quick glance at Ryan, a look of pure hatred mixed with fear. Ryan realized she considered him a monster. He could hardly blame her.
Maria closed her eyes.
Ryan watched in fascination as her gift began to manifest itself. He had seen it many times before but had never ceased to regard it as a miracle.
All the blood suddenly seemed to dry up at the touch of Maria’s fingers. The wound closed, leaving not even a scar.
Ryan sighed with relief. His memory at least had been sound as far as one thing went. Maria had not lost her extraordinary ability. Nor, it seemed, had Jabo.
“Sorry, Jabo,” said Ryan. “But I had no choice. I need Maria if I am to wake Proctor up and save all of us. I need her gift.”
They both stared at him. Then Jabo looked up at Maria. “You can let go of me,” he said. “The Yankee conned you.”
Maria was looking at him in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“I have a gift too,” Jabo said. “I can heal myself. Within a few minutes my own body would have healed the wound.” He turned and glared at Ryan, “And that’s why I’m going to kill you, you son of a bitch. I …”
Something hit the ship with enormous force. Everyone except Proctor, still strapped in, was sent tumbling across the room. They felt the ship being lifted high into the air and then sent crashing back down onto the surface.
Ryan was hurled against one of the cryo-capsules, grasping in vain around its smooth edges for a something to hold on to. Jabo and Maria were thrown into one corner. Ai shrieked in pain.
“What the hell was that?” Jabo shouted, as the ship was yet again lifted into the air and tossed aside.
“It might be a storm,” Ryan said, with no particular confidence. “There are known to be extremely powerful hurricanes on the planet’s surface, and …”
Before he could say another word, they heard a loud groaning noise, followed by a hissing, as if somebody was trying to cut through the metallic hull with an oxyacetylene torch.
Ryan stared around him wildly. With no power running they couldn’t activate the exterior cameras. They were blind.
Suddenly he spotted a tiny glowing dot in the ceiling above them, rapidly growing in size. Somebody — or something — really was trying to cut through the hull. Jabo had noticed it too.
“Well, if we really are on another planet, man, we’re sure as hell not alone,” he said slowly.
Once more the ship jolted and all the while the little glowing spot on the ceiling was slowly turning into a line. A few minutes more and the hull would be penetrated. The question whether or not they would be poisoned by the outside atmosphere would become academic.
“That’s impossible,” Ryan blurted out. “This planet can’t be inhabited.”
“Don’t trust him,” said Maria decisively, turning to Ai and Jabo. “This may all be part of some perfidious plan. We still have no idea where we are — or how we got here.”
“Goddamn it, why won’t you believe me?” shouted Ryan in desperation.
The emergency lighting flickered as the ship was shaken once again. The air had become so humid that they each had sweat trickling down their foreheads.
“He’s right,” said Jabo. “We need to believe him.”
“What?” exclaimed Maria.
“He knew about our gifts,” said Jabo. “It seems he knows more than we do. Until we find out more we have no choice, but to trust him. For the moment, at least.”
Maria and Ai were staring at him in shock.
“You have to save Proctor, Maria,” said Ryan, relief at Jabo’s words flooding through him. “Then we can deal with whatever it is attacking our ship. But hurry up. We haven’t a second to lose.”
Jabo put his arms around Maria gently, lifted her to her feet and directed her towards Proctor’s cradle-seat.
“Please, Maria, hurry up,” Ryan said.
Maria stood there in confusion, then nodded and reached her blood-stained fingers out towards Proctor, touching his forehead and closing her eyes.
And screamed aloud.
She pulled her hands away, hurling herself in panic back against the hull of the ship, staring at Proctor’s motionless body as if it was some unclean monster.
“What’s the matter?” Jabo asked.
“He’s … he’s …” Maria stammered.
“He’s what?” Jabo spat out.
“Different.”
“What do you mean, ‘different’?”
“There is nothing there, no feelings, no emotions, no sensitivity, just a coldness. Like nothing I’ve ever felt before.”
“Probably because the man’s dying,” said Jabo.
“No. Even in dead bodies I can feel the traces of feelings and emotions for some time after their death.” Maria slowly moved back towards the crib in which Proctor lay dying. “But this is like the essence of death itself. There is nothing there but blackness, cold and dark …”
She touched his face again as if trying to locate some remnant of humanity, a glow of light in the darkness of the night.
Then Proctor opened his eyes.
The blue of his irises seemed to glow suddenly in the glimmering unearthly red emergency lights, as gradually color came back into Proctor’s face.
“How do you feel, doctor?” Ryan asked.
Proctor sat up straight in the cryo-capsule, staring in front of him. His attention apparently devoted to the neutron power cell.
“Dr Proctor, can you hear me?” Ryan asked again.
“I can hear you, Ryan,” Proctor said in a calm voice. He gave the impression of a man just woken up from a refreshing afternoon nap, not someone virtually raised from the dead. He gave no impression of being troubled by the lack of air.
“I’ve been listening to everything,” Proctor went on, turning now to Jabo, Maria and Ai. “You can trust Ryan. He is telling the truth.”
Maria gave him a skeptical look. “But … you were dead. I could feel nothing. And now you’re telling us, you were conscious all the time?”
“No,” Proctor corrected her. “I was far away, but I could hear your voices.” He sat up and dusted down his suit. “A most interesting experience.”
“You say we can trust Ryan?” Maria pressed. “But why should we trust you?”
Proctor was paying her no attention. He got to his feet, walked over to the airlock and laid his hand on the sensor pad next to the inner door.
It hissed and opened. Proctor walked through it.
“No,” shouted Ryan, shocked. “Don’t open the airlock.” He had to be stopped. None of them were wearing space suits and they had no idea what bacteria there might be outside or even if the air was breathable. The theory was that it should be, but with the neutron power cells dead the external sensors weren’t working.
And in any case …
“There’s something out there,” Ryan shouted, running after Proctor. “You’ll get us all killed.”
He grabbed hold of Proctor just as he was about to put his hand on the sensor pad to open the outer door.
Ryan seized his wrist. “Touch that and I’ll kill you, asshole!” he hissed.
… but what he was seeing was himself with the muzzle of his gun held against Cho’s son’s forehead,
… and he felt himself pulling the trigger,
… and he saw the bullet rip a hole the size of a fist in the child’s head,
… and he saw the bullet burst out of the back of his head spraying the child’s mother with her son’s blood and brains …
“No!” he spluttered, letting go of Proctor’s hand. “No, no, no …” but his voice was reduced to a whisper. “That didn’t happen. I would never, never have done that.” Proctor put his hand on the sensor and the external airlock opened with a hiss.
Cold air streamed in, through both open doors, flooding in to the interior of the ship. Proctor took a step forward then stopped in the doorway. Jabo pushed past Ryan to where Proctor stood, and Ryan heard him exclaim, “Oh shit, man!”
Ryan was jarred from his nightmare, or whatever it was that had just hit him. He went over to where Proctor and Jabo stood, and looked out.
The sight that confronted him was unbelievable.
The Survivor was in a vast, dark space the size of the interior of a cathedral, apparently constructed completely out of metal — ancient, dark, rusty metal. The ceiling was marked with great bands of it, each, as far as he could tell from this distance, several meters across.
The entire space was filled with glimmering twilight though from where it came Ryan couldn’t tell. But it was bright enough for him to see that this space was not the only surprise. In front of the open airlock stood a dozen or so beings, apparently human.