Pantheon - Michael Jan Friedman [15]
Gardenhire manipulated the controls on his panel. “Releasing the buoy,” he announced gravely.
Tarasco turned back to his bridge’s forward viewscreen. After a moment, he saw a small, gray object go spinning off into the void like a child’s top. It had a squat, graceless body, three sturdy legs and a domed crown, and it would transmit a signal in the direction of Earth for hundreds of years if nothing happened to it.
The message buoy would tell the Valiant’s story. It would speak of the magnetic storm that had hurled them through space. It would describe the phenomenon they encountered at the galaxy’s edge. And it would say how their first assistant engineer had mutated into a being capable of destroying the rest of the crew.
The buoy would also carry information about extrasensory perception, and how it related to Geirrod Agnarsson’s transformation. It would warn other captains who intended to penetrate the barrier about the horrific consequences they might face.
The kind of consequences Tarasco was facing now.
Suddenly, his intercom grid came alive. “Chief Pelletier to Captain Tarasco,” it sang.
“Tarasco here. What’s the situation?”
“Not good, sir,” said the security chief. “Agnarsson is having another go at the force field. He’s been in contact with it for nearly a minute and he doesn’t seem to have reached his limit yet.”
The captain could hear the urgency in Pelletier’s voice. No, he told himself, call it what it is. The fear.
For the last twenty minutes, while Tarasco was completing his preparation of the message buoy, Agnarsson had been trying to see how much punishment he could take. Each time he penetrated the barrier, it seemed, he was able to endure it a little longer than the previous time.
Eventually, he would be able to pass through it altogether. The captain didn’t doubt that for a minute. In time, he reflected, Agnarsson would be unstoppable.
Tarasco desperately didn’t want to destroy the engineer or anyone else. That was why he had taken so long to release the message buoy. It was why he was lingering here on the bridge, watching the buoy spin off into space for as long as possible.
But it was becoming increasingly obvious that he had to act. Agnarsson was a deadly threat to the life of every man and woman on the Valiant. The engineer had to be sacrificed, and soon…or the buoy would be all that was left of them.
And it wasn’t just the crew that was at risk. If Agnarsson took control of the ship, he might be able to repair its crippled propulsion system. Then he would have access to every planet in the galaxy, including the ones that boasted sentient populations.
Including, ultimately, Earth.
Tarasco patted the laser pistol on his hip. He couldn’t allow a monster to be unleashed on his homeworld. He had to put his dread aside and do something about it.
“I’m coming,” he told Pelletier. “Tarasco out.”
Slowly, feeling as if he were laden with weights, the captain turned to his helm officer. “Lieutenant Sommers,” he said, “you’ve got the bridge.”
The woman turned and looked at him, knowing full well what Pelletier’s summons had been about. “Aye, sir.”
Pushing himself up out of his center seat, the captain made his way to the lift at the rear of the bridge and tapped the touch-sensitive plate on the bulkhead. The doors slid aside for him and he entered the compartment, then punched in his destination.
It took slightly more than a minute for the lift to convey him to Deck Ten. The doors opened on arrival and he stepped out into the corridor.
The brig was just down the hall. Tarasco followed the bend of the passageway reluctantly. Along the way, it occurred to him that he would have to look Agnarsson in the eyes before he killed him.
It would hurt to do that, no question about it. But it wouldn’t stop him. No matter what, he would press the trigger.
Of course, he could have ordered one of his crewmen to destroy the prisoner for him. But Tarasco wasn’t the type to put that kind of burden on one of his people. If anyone was