“I don’t know what happened to him, Sir. One moment he was behind me, then he wasn’t” replied Will, truthfully.
“Was it just the two of you?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“And what might this Billy be doing now?”
“If I were him, I would panic at first then think about jumping back to this reality to see if I could be found. I would be very nervous about doing so, though, because of all your military personnel about and the risk of getting caught myself, Sir.”
“So he could be watching us now?
“I doubt it, Sir. He wouldn't be able to find us in your office. He's probably getting worried by now, though.
At this, the General moved away and stared at a large map on the wall. After a few minutes, he turned back to the room and addressed the senior guard. “Prenu tiun personon al la ĉeloj kaj petu Lieŭtenanto Wilds vidi.
The guard saluted and turned around to face Will. He then raised his weapon and gestured for Will to leave the room. Will could only assume that the General had decided that there was nothing to be gained by interrogating him further and probably had more productive things to do.
The guards took him back towards the airlock they had entered a short while before but continued on past it towards a plain grey door that Will hadn’t previously noticed. This time, his guards didn’t hesitate and went straight through the door. Beyond, there was another guard seated at a small desk. One of his guards spoke and the new guard went to a nearby door and opened it. Will was shoved towards it and pushed inside. The new guard then shouted “Suit. Off” although it was said with a very strong accent and seemed to be a struggle for the man to say.
Unfortunately, Will didn’t fully understand what had been said, so didn’t respond immediately. One of the guards behind him slammed the butt of his weapon into the back of his head and sent him reeling. The guard repeated the instruction “Suit. Off.” This time, Will did understand and slowly removed his suit and handed it to the guards, who hung it up across the corridor outside his new home. With that, the guards left and the door slammed shut behind them.
Will looked around his cell and suddenly felt dejected. Sitting on the shelf that doubled as both a bed and a seat, he looked around. The cell was about four metres square, with a toilet in a slightly closed-off area in one corner. The light was dim but sufficient for him to see the worn and well-used look it had. It looked, and smelled, like a prison cell.
Fortunately, it wasn’t cold. If anything, he felt quite warm, although he found himself doing an involuntary shudder.
Whilst Mel had been making good progress, when he tried to check the inter-system communications, they were clearly not working. He had gone over all the equipment in the comms room several times but had been unable to find any faults.
He had checked the cables and junction boxes as best he could but, again, hadn’t been able to find any problems. He was beginning to think he would never get to the bottom of what was wrong. As it was, he’d already spent one night sleeping in his ship and didn’t fancy another. Whilst it wasn’t unpleasant in there, he was missing out on what he had planned would be a busy weekend with his family. His only conclusion was that the problem lay outside, which would make it harder to locate and fix the problem, as he would need to work in his suit.
Attached to the outer wall of the building there was a junction box which distributed the cables from inside the comm building to the various dishes and aerials, so he decided that he had little choice but to check it out. As he approached it, he could see that, since he had first checked it, a small meteorite had gone straight through the door and into the cabinet. As soon as he opened the door, he could tell immediately that the whole thing was fried. “Damn!” he exclaimed “There’s no way I can fix that in any kind of a hurry.” The damage in the junction box was so extensive that everything in it would need to be replaced and he knew he didn’t have the spare parts with him, other than, possibly, one circuit board. Under normal circumstances, he might have been in with a chance but with all the other repairs he had had to do, his spares collection was now minimal.
He closed the door and returned to the comm building, so that he could see if he could get someone to bring a replacement controller box. Even if there was one back at HQ it would be a while before anyone could get one to him and them it would take several hours more to install it. So much for his weekend plans!
Sarah was relieved. She had just had a reply from her Captain and after reviewing her report, he had agreed that help was needed. He had asked for the navy to assist and they were sending a battlecruiser to them. Fortunately, it was currently nearby, although it would take up to two hours to arrive.
She called the others back to the bridge and told them what had been agreed “You’ll be pleased to know, gentlemen, that the cavalry is on its way, in the form of the battlecruiser HMS Sea Lion and will arrive in the next hour or two. Whilst we wait, I would like us to search this base. In particular, I want to find the cells, so we can find Will Hunt and, if we can, find any offices or communications facilities, to see if we can gather any intel. There was no sign of anything in this hangar, so I suggest we go straight through to the rear. Billy can come with me to look at the rear of the hangar, whilst Sergeant McDowell can take Parsons and go down the left side when looking towards the rear. Norgrove and Harling can make up the final pair and go down the right side. Keep in touch and be ready in case you come across non-friendlies. Sergeant, is the prisoner secure and safe?”
“Yes, Lieutenant. At the moment, he’s asleep, having had a good meal and a drink” replied McDowell.
They all paired up as instructed and, having put on their helmets, left the ship together and walked towards the office that Billy had left only a few hours earlier and where he had last seen Will.
As they entered the rear hangar, Sarah was relieved that the lights came on automatically. At least they wouldn’t be searching in limited lighting.
As they headed into the hangar, Billy heard Sergeant McDowell exclaim “Just look at all this stuff. They certainly mean business. The sooner the navy gets here, the happier I’ll be.”
Sarah asked “Before we start our search, can we look to see if we can get these hangar doors open, so it will be easier to clear this place when the navy get here?”
A few minutes later, Parsons spotted a green control lever just beyond the far end of the door. He pulled it towards him and the door slowly opened, with much creaking and small patches of dust falling. Inside, he found another lever and, having also pulled that, the doors to the front hangar also opened.
Now that doors had been opened, as they headed for the rear of the hangar, Sarah and Billy spotted an airlock door. “Looks like we might be in business” said Sarah.
As they went through the airlock, they entered a corridor leading in both directions. Sarah checked the sensor readout on her right wrist. “Breathable air, so we can take off our helmets.” Once they were removed, she continued “Hmm, a bit stale but better than nothing. We’ll try this way. It looks as good as any” said Sarah, heading to the right. As they passed down the corridor, they opened all the doors they passed but were unable to find anything of interest. However, as they passed through the large door at the end of the corridor, they could tell immediately that this office was occupied by someone of importance.