This week Captain Darrow
sends a report to his boss and gets an unexpected reply. To read the book from
the beginning, go here. My idea of Darrow is actor
Michael Sheen.
Intruders chapter 13
scenes 3 & 4
To take his mind off the
crew problems, Darrow went back to his dossier on the missing raw materials and
added his new evidence: image analysis from Pallas and post-mortem enzyme
reports from his contacts. He contacted them to share the latest information
about the ghostly figure, asking them to check the video records for their local
incidents under infrared. As he looked at the growing body of evidence, he
decided to make a new attempt to convince his superior officer, Commodore
Michel, of the threat. He wrote a report, attached the relevant files, plus a
copy of the original report outlining his suspicions, and transmitted it to
Commodore Michel.
* *
*
The following morning,
Darrow received an incoming call. He responded eagerly when he saw it was from
Commodore Michel. The Commodore was an older man whose sandy blond hair had not
yet turned grey. He was smiling but his brown eyes were serious.
‘I read your report
Captain. Fascinating, fascinating. I agree it’s worth looking
into.’
‘I’m glad you can see it,
sir. The threat is escalating, as the timeline shows.’
‘Oh, I’m not sure about
that. I called to tell you I’ve passed your data on to Intelligence, it's in
their jurisdiction now.’
‘But sir, my contacts on
the other worlds agree -’
‘Better to let the
experts look at the evidence. Don’t worry, it’s all in hand. Thank you for
bringing it to my attention.’
‘But sir -’ The Commodore
had gone. Darrow slammed his fist on the table.
Intelligence! He may as well have buried
it, he thought. I’m right! I know I am. Why can’t
he see? What has to happen before they take it seriously?
His office door buzzed,
then Holland entered.
‘The crew’s reports are
all in, sir, if you want to see them… Captain, are you all right?’
Darrow paused. ‘I’ve
just had an infuriating conversation with Commodore Michel.’
‘Is there anything I can do,
sir?’
‘Maybe a reality check.'
Darrow said. 'Sit down Commander. You know I’ve got a hobby of collecting
mysteries. My contacts have contributed to my collection with mysteries from
their worlds. I recently found a pattern in some of them. Raw materials have
been disappearing without a trace from all over the galaxy.’
Holland sat forward,
‘Like the quartz from Pallas?’
‘Yes and no. Pallas is
the first place that multiple incidents have been recorded, though it’s unclear
if that's linked to the smuggling or not. Do you remember the video records and
scans I had Commander Blackwell look at?’
Holland nodded.
‘He found that under
infrared light a figure could be seen.’
Holland considered for a
moment. ‘Invisible aliens? At least invisible to the visible spectrum. Are
they just helping themselves to the raw materials they want?’
Darrow slapped his hand
on the desk. ‘Exactly! How come you can see it and Commodore Michel
can’t?’
Holland leaned back in
his chair and paused for thought. ‘Do you have solid evidence from elsewhere or
just Pallas?’
‘I’ve spoken to some of
my contacts and their checks are turning up similar results. They've found the
same unknown enzyme in the bodies of some of the victims, each death otherwise
unexplained, and Dr Thomas found the same enzyme in Pavel Patla.’
‘So they are stealing and
killing. They have to be stopped.’
‘I’m afraid that’s not
going to happen. Commodore Michel has passed my findings to Intelligence, where
they’ll sit on the pile indefinitely.’
Holland leaned forward.
‘You know Admiral Keever?’
Darrow
nodded.
‘He’s my
uncle.’
‘You kept that quiet! But
what’s that got to do with anything?’
‘Well, if I give him a
friendly call, and just happen to mention what you’ve discovered, you can’t
disobey if he wants to see your findings, can you?’
Darrow slapped the desk
and smiled broadly.
[Next week: Within a few hours everything changes]
Why not sign up
and join the crew? You’ll get occasional news of all my
writing plus four free gifts!
No comments:
Post a Comment