With lightning speed, Irons grabbed the engineer’s hand and twisted it behind his back. Green grimaced in pain. “Don’t ever try to grab my belt again,” Irons said icily. He let go of the engineer’s hand, and Green staggered forward and fell against the wall. His face was still contorted with pain and he rubbed his hand. “Shit, that hurt!” he whined.
Jeff looked at Irons wordlessly. He thought his reaction had been excessive. It was unusual for the major to use violence on any of his crew. Irons briefly returned his glance and grabbed one of the replacement handhelds from the equipment sled, which Shorty had pulled from the niche to the middle of the room. “Take this and fix it to the wall.” He pointed to a spot beside the front door. Then he went over to a long table that was pushed against the wall nearer the kitchen, and dragged it over to the place he had indicated. “This will be our command post. Joanne?”
“Yes, Sir?”
“This is the sketch I made yesterday on the way to our quarters. Use it to verify the handheld’s automatic tracking and add the data the teams transmit by radio.”
“It isn’t a radio.”
“Excuse me, Lieutenant Green?”
The engineer shook his aching hand and stepped up to the table. He took the handheld and secured it with a clamp so that the antenna he had just attached touched the wall. “I said: it’s not a radio. We’re not exchanging any radio signals, but impulses through the metal of the walls.”
Irons waved his hand dismissively. “Stop quibbling! First we need to find out if these things even work. Lieutenant Castle?”
“Sir?”
“Start the reconnaissance. Go back the way we came yesterday until you reach the last junction. When you get there, turn right. Make sure to first map the areas near our quarters. At every intersection, stop and message us by radio.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“I just said, it isn’t—” Green began, but was silenced by Irons’ frosty glare.
Castle nodded to Shorty and opened the door into the corridor. The mechanic was carrying a flashlight and a backpack containing some basic equipment, food, and water. Irons closed the door behind him.
“We’ll soon see if your invention works,” Irons said to Green. Green kept quiet and looked fixedly at the handheld on the table.
A few seconds passed and then Castle’s voice—with some interference but clearly intelligible—sounded from the handheld’s speaker.” This is Lieutenant Castle. Can you hear me?”
“Green here. Loud and clear. Can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear. Your construction seems to work.”
“Yup, thought it would.”
“We’re now at the intersection and turning right. The corridor leads into darkness. This shitty flashlight is only lighting up the first thirty or so feet. It’s kind of scary.”
Irons leaned forward. “Record the path with your handheld, but keep sending us info so we can track your route.”
“Understood, we’re setting off now.”
Jeff looked over Joanne’s shoulder. She was drawing lines on the screen of the handheld with her finger. Something occurred to Jeff. He turned to Green. “Tell him to report any changes to the gravity vector, otherwise we might misinterpret it in our sketch.
Green shook his head. “He won’t hear us now. He has to hold the device against the wall to be able to communicate with us. He has to report first.”
It didn’t take long for him to make contact again. “Castle here. Can you hear us?”
“Still loud and clear.”
“We’re at the next intersection. We’ve walked precisely eighty-five feet. This intersection has four turnoffs at right angles to each other. We’re turning right.”
“Understood. One more thing. We need you to report any changes in the gravity vector, understood?”
“Understood.”
Jeff nodded and watched Joanne drawing more lines. A few seconds later, Castle checked back in. He described the route and the next intersection. Joanne entered the data into the mobile device.
Jeff felt a hand on his arm. Irons gestured for him to follow him. Clearly he didn’t want to disturb Joanne. “Time for you to go, too.”
Jeff nodded.
“Go to the same intersection where Castle turned off, but turn left. Look out for any rooms. There can’t be only corridors on this ship.”
“Yes, Sir,” Jeff said. He hoped they would find something the former inhabitants of this ship had left behind. Something that would tell them more about the history and culture of this extraterrestrial civilization. Jeff signaled to Mac, and the burly mechanic slung his backpack over his shoulder. Then he picked up the flashlight and flicked it on and off a few times to check it was working.
Jeff handed Green his handheld, and the engineer inserted an antenna into the port. Just as Jeff was about to take it, Green pulled back his hand. “Now, don’t forget to hold it against the wall if you want to talk to me,” Green sneered.
Jeff just glared at him as he took the device. He should have said something, but he didn’t want to lower himself to Green’s level.
Jeff strode to the door and signaled to Mac to follow him. The mechanic was smirking. He must have seen what had just passed between him and Green.
They stepped into the corridor. It was pitch black. Mac switched on the flashlight. Even though the beam was quite bright, the dark metal of the walls swallowed most of the light and they couldn’t see far in front of them. Mac marched off ahead.
“Wait,” Jeff said. “That’s the wrong direction. We have to go back toward the outer airlock and turn left at the next intersection.
Wordlessly, Mach turned around and passed Jeff in the other direction. Jeff followed him a few paces behind.
What was that?
Jeff swung round. But all he saw was darkness.
“What’s the problem?” Mac shone the flashlight back down the corridor. They stood still for several seconds, listening. But there was no sound.
“What’s the problem?” Mac asked again.
“I thought I heard footsteps behind us,” Jeff sighed. “Probably just the echo of our own.”
This darkness! This silence!
Jeff couldn’t shake the feeling there was something lurking in the shadows, watching them.
“Maybe a poltergeist is up to no good on this ship,” Mac snickered.
Or something worse. Jeff didn’t reply.
After just a few more steps, they reached the first intersection. Mac shone the flashlight into the corridors that branched off in different directions. At first glance, they all looked exactly the same. Jeff held the handheld’s antenna against the wall. “Austin here,” he said. “Do you read me?”
The answer came immediately. “Yes, we can hear you.” There was a slight rustling noise overlaying his colleague’s voice, but it was clear enough.
“We’re at the first junction and turning left.”
“Understood.”
Mac went ahead with the flashlight. To the left and right of them were only the smooth walls of the corridor. There were no doors here. In fact, they’d seen hardly any doors since leaving the airlock. But there had to be something behind those walls. Jeff stopped and punched the gray material with his fist. The dull thud didn’t suggest an empty space on the other side—but maybe the wall was just very thick.
“Everything OK?” Mac asked.
Jeff nodded and they continued on their way. The next turning came after just forty feet. One corridor led to the right at a sharp angle, another to the left, going slightly downward. If they wanted to find out what was going on, then probably they would have to go deeper to the heart of this huge ship.
“This way,” Jeff said, pointing downward. Mac shone the flashlight into the corridor. There appeared to be no doors or further turnings.