A raised central area, accessed by a few steps, was ringed with organically curved pillars supporting a circular roof set with lights bright enough to banish the darkness from the furthest edges of the room. Four flat protrusions fixed to the roof stretched out at a sloped angle to join to the ceiling, also adorned with similar eye-pleasing details of an organic nature.
Except for the stairs, the room’s architecture was devoid of any straight edges. The effect was one of calmness, something Richard welcomed after his recent hectic escapades. Hopefully, it was sign things were changing.
Before he satisfied his curiosity to explore the room further, he searched in the rucksack for spare batteries. His fear of wondering through the spaceship in pitch blackness was something he wished to avoid at all costs. Though he found no batteries, he did find another headlamp. A check revealed it was a lot brighter than his current one. He put the failing one in his rucksack and placed the fresh one on his head, ready to switch on when needed.
He stepped around the tree that protruded through a panel in the floor it had raised when it forced its way through, breaking one of its dead branches in the process.
The consoles below the screens positioned around the edge of the room were covered in controls, buttons, levers, unlit lights and sliding knobs that reminded him of a cross between a musician’s recording deck and an aircraft cockpit. Though he pressed, moved and slid various controls, the lack of any power failed to produce any reactions. Large dust speckled chairs were positioned at each console. Richard again wondered what had happened to the crew and if any were still alive.
He climbed the steps and gazed around the raised platform. A large rectangle table with curved corners, whose top was level with Richard’s chest, was positioned in the center and took up most of the floor space. Around the edge of the table an angled control panel absent any obvious power was littered with buttons and small screens.
Curiosity bade Richard to touch the purple top. He was surprised when his finger sunk into the jelly-like fluid. It oozed back into the small hole made by his inquisitive finger when he jerked it out. Though he wondered as to its function, his primitive brain when faced with such an alien object arrived at no likely solution, so he turned his attention to surveying the rest of the strange room.
A sloping walkway curved up to a balcony edged with a balustrade. He climbed up. A door stood at each end. In the hope that less life threatening challenges would be presented on the other side of the ship, he headed for the one that took him away from the tomb side of the vessel.
CHAPTER 11
The Pilot
THE FLASHLIGHTS HELD BY Henry, Theo and Max roamed over the thick metal door that stood ajar at the end of the short entrance corridor.
Henry shone his light through the door gap and searched for danger. “From what little I can see, it seems safe.”
“Forgive me, Henry, if your observation doesn’t fill me with confidence,” said Theo, glumly. The strain was beginning to affect him. “This ship has been one death defying situation after another, and I’m not expecting that to change any time soon, however safe it currently looks beyond that door.”
Henry turned to Theo. “To go back we must first go forward and face the dangers that lie ahead. If there was another way, I’d be the first to turn around and take it, but unfortunately that’s not the case. To escape we need to find a way of opening the doors that block our way back to the engine room.”
Theo sighed. “I know, Henry, just ignore me. I’m a little weary, that’s all.”
Theo and Max followed Henry through the gap.
They were a little surprised to find they’d entered what seemed to be a mess hall. Oversize tables and chairs filled the huge space, and what looked to be a serving counter and food preparation area at the far end of the room.
Henry, surprised by the familiarity of the furniture, gazed around the room. “Though I assumed even aliens have to eat, I’m still surprised by the normality of this room and its similarity to a works canteen.”
“Maybe the crew will turn out to be more humanlike than we first thought,” said Max.
“If we ever find them,” added Theo.
Though various doors exited from the room, they believed the door directly opposite the one they entered through offered the best chance to take them where they wished to be—the control room. They walked to the far side of the room and passed through the opening. A short corridor led to large door with two buttons beside it, which they thought might be an elevator. When a press of the buttons failed to call it, they took the nearby stairs and ignored all the doors on each landing until they reached the top. Slightly breathless from the long climb up the oversized steps, they halted before the door they’d been led to.
Prepared like his companions to flee to a lower level if danger threatened, Henry opened the door. A blast of cold air swept over them. Their lights glinted off the thin layer of frost adorning every surface of the long, dark corridor.
Max shivered and zipped up his jacket. “It seems whatever’s keeping the ship warm, it doesn’t stretch to this part of the ship.”
With their breath fogging in the cold air, they passed through the opening. After a few steps the door rasped shut behind them. It gave the impression of a jailer slamming a cell door. Their inquisitive flashlights picked out doors lining the wall on the right, but keen to find the control room, these doors were also ignored. Later they could search them for weapons. At the end of the corridor they rounded a sharp bend to find the corridor continued to the far side of the ship. A walk along half its length brought them to a large door on the left, set in an archway at the top of a short flight of steps.
The three men stared at the door.
“If we’ve reached the front of the ship, as we seem to have, odds are it’s the control room we’re looking for,” said Theo.
When Max climbed the steps, the door slid aside automatically. A blast of chilled air escaped from the room. They entered, stretched out in a line inside the entrance and let their eyes wander around the frost-covered room.
“It’s definitely the front of the ship,” stated Max. “It’s also definitely the bridge.”
The thin layer of ice covering the large window, or view screen that filled the front of the long section of the room obscured the view of the ice pressing against the ship. Two large padded chairs with high backs were positioned along the console situated below the screen. Levers, buttons and raised screens covered its surface. Either side of the long area, two sets of steps led up to the globe sections of the room with curved ceilings. Both were equipped with a curved viewing port on each side, a console and a seat. The center ceiling was flat and contained various sized panels and what looked to be lighting strips, all dark.
Though all these details fascinated the group, it was something in particular that captured their attention and was where their gazes finally settled. Max pulled the small video camera from his rucksack and started filming. They approached what they assumed to be the pilot or captain’s chair and its occupant. Henry was first to reach the chair and slowly turned it.
They all stared at the face of the first alien crew member they’d discovered since stepping aboard the ship.
“It must be the pilot or the captain,” said Theo.