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= NEBULA EXPRESS =

a DarkSF novel

by John Argo

Page 23.

Chapter Eleven

Slowly, cautiously, they stepped out, one foot at a time, into a carpeted receptionist area on the top and final floor. This was no lobby, but some kind of executive suite. The curvature of the nose area was evident on all sides. The two elevators opened on a small round area that was comfortably claustrophobic. It was a tight little space with inward curving walls narrower on top than bottom by a good two feet. The ceiling looked like a plate that could be removed, probably revealing miles of tangled cabling. Under the tan, stylish modesty of the ceiling were two banks of tiny silvery light globes on tracks. These lit up as the four stepped into the room. Several single-panel doors led away into unknown rooms, presumably the Bridge or Command Post or command module of the entire operation. Around the walls were thick greenish glass windows inset in small, massively built sills. Breaking the circle of doors and windows was a cramped reception counter built directly into the wall on their right as they stepped from the elevator. The four eased in and Ridge nearly expected to hear music softly playing. Instead, a screen in the wall behind the receptionist's abandoned desk flickered suddenly.

"Watch it!" Lantz said jumpily. She turned and nearly emptied a charge into the empty air where the receptionist had long ago risen and walked away to the elevator, never to return.

"It's a view screen," Ridge said. "Hold your fire."

For a few moments the screen—a square about two feet per side—flickered with grainy bluish light. Then an image of Captain Venable resolved itself against a bright background. Under white lighting, Ridge clearly made out chairs, cabinets, even a young woman sitting in the distance at a console chewing gum and sipping coffee. The background was blurry in the extremely bright light bathing Venable's background. "Greetings," the Captain said.

"Can you hear me?" Ridge said, leaning across the dark-blue counter of the receptionist desk. "This is Ridge. I'm the Lead Engineer from WorkPod01."

"I can hear you and see you just fine," the Captain said. His eyes looked merry, and his fresh youthful cheeks were stipple pink. His teeth were bright, his lips shiny, his enthusiasm infectious.

"We're dying out here," Ridge said, slamming a heavy palm down. He felt too overcome to say anything more.

"It's rough out there," Venable agreed.

"Get us out of here," Ridge said. "Get us to safety."

"Sure. Can you get in here?"

"Can we get in?" Ridge said, phrasing the question in a different tone that suggested 'may' instead of 'can.' As he spoke, Tomson and the others tried door handles. "All locked," Tomson muttered. "Same here," whispered Brenna and Lantz. All were angry, yet all were suddenly overcome with a memory of respect. This was their captain, and he should save them, after all. Ridge burned with concern as he leaned into the view screen. "Captain, I've lost four people in the last few hours."

"Really?" Venable said vaguely. "Who were they?"

"Mughali, Mahaffey, Yu, and Jerez."

"That's very sad," Venable said sincerely. "You should be safe where you are."

"Then you know about the mudmen?" Tomson barked.

"Yes."

"And you let us go out there without even a warning?" Tomson's face was contorted with rage. He looked old and betrayed. His mouth hung open, and his teeth were parted in a gesture of utter contempt. He showed a pink tongue rumpled in utter distaste.

"I had no choice," Venable said. "I have no choice about these things. We are locked in a crisis, and we have no choice. I'm terribly sorry."

"We?" Brenna said. She pushed Ridge aside. "Do you know I thought I had two children? Or did I? What happened to my babies?"

Venable blanched. His features retained their smooth, handsome babyness, but his eyes grew more sympathetic. "You understand, Brenna..."

"You know my name?" She placed her fists on the counter top. Her shoulder dug into Ridge's ribs, though it was a rounded shoulder and did not hurt. Ridge did feel the tenseness in her body, and wished she did not have to suffer so.

"I know all of your names," Venable said. "I know you all."

"What about my children?" Brenna said. Tears ran down her cheeks.

Venable shook his head. "It seemed better to let you be happy than to have you know the truth."

Lantz shouted over Brenna's shoulder: "It was more efficient to have us think we had lives, is what you mean."

Venable looked sad now. "Don't think that way. I am a prisoner here, and I have no illusions. I have only the thought that we are serving mankind. We are on our way to a better world."

"Isn't this the Neptune Express?" Ridge asked, feeling foolish. He felt as if he were a passenger who had taken the wrong train after a night of drinking, and now must ask strangers the embarrassing questions to get home. "Isn't this a cargo ship traveling back and forth between Luna and Neptune?"

Venable shook his head with a sweet, sad smile. "What a fine story."

Ridge waved a fist. "So what is the story here?"

Behind Venable the scene changed to one of deep space. Ridge glanced at the stars in their various diamond hues, but did not recognize any constellations. The sun was not visible. Gone was the lovely, glowing blue orb of Neptune, with the crescent Triton rising like a gray bubble of nitrogen over the Sea God's shoulder. Venable said: "The engineers and thinkers who made you dreamed up a nice name. The real name of our expedition is Nebula Express." He turned his head slightly and flicked his eyes like pointers to the crabbed tangles and spidered webs of stars that looked almost like explosions of wetness in a meadow. "That is deep interstellar space, and we are many light-years from Earth."

The little lobby was silent as they digested this. Ridge felt a hardness in the pit of his gut. "Things can't get any worse now, I'm sure." As if to give his hope the lie, he heard distant thumping noises in the bottom of the elevator shaft. With a sudden inspiration, he said: "You won't let us in there, will you?"

Venable blinked sadly. "I can't."

Brenna said suddenly: "We're not the first ones in here, are we?"

Venable blinked again, this time with a slight shake no of the head.

"Then this has been going on for a long time," Lantz said.

Tomson said: "You had no right to do this to us."

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