Lee Edgar - The Andromeda Trial

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DEDICATED TO INNOCENTS EVERYWHERE
© LEE EDGAR 1997
Originally Published and Printed by
REGENTLANE Ltd
Devonshire Road Industrial Estate
Millom, Cumbria LA18 4JS
All Rights Reserved by Bankside Publishing
EARLIER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES
The Andromeda Burn
The Andromeda Seed
Return to Andromeda
Andromeda Time
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Navigation Officer Cassiopeia Hardy gripped the padded arm of her seat so tightly
that her knuckles were white as Orion Space Station loomed large in the forward viewer
of their shuttle craft.
‘You’re approaching too fast,’ she cautioned the pilot. ‘Take evasive action.’
‘I c..c..can’t,’ stammered the young man on her left, frantically stabbing at buttons
to fire the lateral retros. ‘It’s too late.’
He was right. Untrained instincts were too slow. The shuttle started to turn, but the
stubby port wing caught the edge of Orion’s docking bay, sending up a shower of sparks.
Turning as if in slow motion, the craft went into a lateral spin and the nose cone
rammed through the thin skin and pierced the space station’s reactor bay. The jarring
crash shook them all just seconds before the reactor went critical and exploded in a
ten-kilometre ball of irradiated fire.
Cassi’s head was in her hands.
‘I’m sorry,’ said the pilot, getting shakily to his feet.
She looked up sharply but spoke without malice. ‘Sorry? Paul, you have just destroyed
seven billion pounds worth of space station, four shuttles which were docked, an
interstellar cruiser worth untold millions, and in the process killed the hundred or so
workers and scientists on Orion, not to mention your own crew. You have got to start
getting it right.’
She stood up and faced the group of twenty young men and women behind her. ‘If this
wasn’t a simulation, you would now all be dead. How do you feel about that?’
None of them said a word. They had all failed. Paul Andrews had been the last to try
his hand at docking a shuttle in space.
She sighed. ‘Okay, we’ll try again next week. Might I suggest you take a little more
notice in Professor Akherd’s class. What he tries to teach you may only be the theory
side of things, but a knowledge of basic cosmology and the laws of stellar motion will
one day save your lives.’ She sighed again. ‘Now can any of you tell me where Paul went
wrong?’
A hand at the back shot up. ‘He did it too fast.‘ The young woman giggled. ‘Typical
Man.’
Cassi sighed. ‘Thank you, Carla. Will someone just tell me where everyone is going
wrong? Not one of you has completed the simple task of docking a shuttle. If you cannot
dock at Orion, how do you expect to get to Luna Base in one piece?’
No-one spoke.
She wiped her hand across her forehead. ‘All right, let’s go back to basics. Can
anyone tell me how fast Orion is moving?’
‘It doesn’t move,’ grinned Robin Merry. ‘It’s geostationary.’
‘It may not move in relation to Earth’s surface, but it is still moving. How fast?’
A girl of seventeen nervously put up her hand.
Cassi smiled. ‘Yes, Janine.’
‘Just over eleven thousand kilometres per hour, Miss.’
‘Well done. And what is the escape velocity of Earth?’
‘Eleven point one eight kilometres per second to the power of minus one.’
‘And how far from the surface is a geosynchronous object, such as Orion?’ She looked
round the class.
‘Thirty-five thousand, nine hundred kilometres.’
‘Good, so assuming a shuttle has reached escape velocity, how fast will it be
travelling when it reaches geostat?’
There was a delay before a man of almost thirty muttered: ‘Thirty thousand kilometres
per hour.’
‘Thank you, Neil.’ She started to pace the area at the front of the class. ‘So can
any bright individual please tell me what that means, in ordinary English?’
‘You’ve got to slow down,’ said Paul, back in his place next to Janine.
‘Good grief, that’s an understatement. You’ve just spent an hour getting up from
Europoort and you’ve got a half-kilometre wide space station in the forward viewer.
Taking off is now automatic. Launch Control on Mount Aigoual keeps you on a parabolic
course through the atmosphere and steers you through the satellite window so you don’t
collide with one of the thousands of bits of junk in orbit over the mid Atlantic. It
then pulls you round over the equator and into a geostatic corridor behind Orion. All
you have to do is guide the shuttle in for the last hundred kilometres without ramming
the flaming thing up the backside.’
A titter went round the room and Cassi silently cursed herself for dropping to their
level and using semi-vulgarities to make her point.
She stared at them till she got their attention once more. ‘I know Orion looks pretty
small from a hundred kilometres away, but a hundred kilometres away is when you start
to retrobrake. If you don’t..’ She shrugged and waved her hand toward the simulator
screen: ‘This happens.’
‘Can’t we guide the shuttle right in by remote control?’ asked a laid-back young man,
friend of the lout at the front. Cassi sighed. Where did the Directorate find some of
these promising student astronauts? She said nothing for a long time. Gradually, an
uncomfortable silence fell over the group. When it had lasted thirty seconds, she sat
down on the edge of her desk.
‘By the time any of you lot qualify,’ she said slowly and evenly: ‘The whole
procedure will be automatic. Once they attain geosynchronous orbit, shuttles will be
guided in by tractor beam and on-board computers will control the retros to bring the
speed down from thirty thousand to eleven thousand kilometres per hour.’
A buzz broke out until someone had the courage to ask: ‘Then why are we here?’
‘You are here because the Europa Corporation has the foresight to realise that space
exploration does not stop at the moon. It was rather hoped that some of you might
qualify before Wayfarer Three is finished and become part of her crew. At this rate, I
shall be taking her to Antares on my own.’
There was a silence for a while until Janine spoke. ‘You flew in Wayfarer One, didn’t
you, Miss?’
Cassi relaxed and smiled at the girl who was short and skinny and, in her jeans and
tee-shirt, looked no more than fourteen years old. ‘Yes, I did. As a matter of fact, I
was born on board Wayfarer Two on the way back from Andromeda.’
The two of them were still looking at each other when the buzzer went; ending their
session. Cassi smiled again. This girl, the youngest of the group, was by far the
brightest. However, she did have a hang-up about working with others. In a group, she
retired deep into the darkest recess of her shell.
Without turning her head, Cassi called out; ‘Neil!’
The untidy youth ambled over. ‘You rang?’
‘Six-thirty tomorrow morning - in the gym.’
He grinned. ‘Need a good seeing to?’
She straightened to her full five-foot-six and looked him almost straight in the eye.
‘You’d have to catch me first.’
‘What about my mates?’
Cassi smiled. ‘The more the merrier.’
Janine slowly got to her feet as Neil departed. ‘You don’t mean it, do you, Miss?’
‘Mean what?’
‘About meeting him in the gym.’
‘Why don’t you come, too?’
The young girl looked horrified. ‘But they have been talking about you all month
since the course began. Neil said he’d love to...’
‘Give me a good seeing to?’
She nodded. ‘Something like that.’
‘And you think he’d really try and do it? Some lads are all mouth, you know.’
Janine shook her head furiously. ‘No, he means it. I...’
Cassi frowned. ‘Is there something I ought to know? Has he...?’
‘Oh, no, Miss. He..’
‘He tried though, didn’t he?’
The younger girl looked down at the floor. ‘I feel so ashamed.’
Cassi lifted Janine’s chin with the tip of her long index finger. ‘Being a virgin is
not a disease. It’s highly sensible in this day and age.‘
The younger girl swallowed. ‘How did you know?’
Cassi smiled. ‘I asked Dr Carrero. You are the only member of the group who hasn’t
asked to be HIV tested. That suggests that you are capable of behaving yourself and
have nothing to fear from STDs.’
The young girl beamed. ‘You approve?’
Cassi nodded. ‘I approve. See you bright and early in the morning.’
CASSI changed out of her flight-suit in the changing room and locked the classroom
door. As she skipped down the corridor in her short summer dress, a door marked “ Dr J
Carrero” opened and out came a woman in her early thirties with dusky skin and curly
black hair. ‘You have-a finished for the day?’
Cassi slipped her arm round the older woman’s shoulders. ‘It’s our wedding
anniversary. Mike says he’ll leave me for another woman if I don’t get home on time
tonight.’
Juanita laughed. ‘He’ll not do that. He is-a loving you too much.’
‘How has Andi been today?’
The white-coated biophysicist smirked. ‘We are-a changing the nappies four times
today.’ She grinned. ‘But it has been good practice for the students.’
‘I’ll take her out of your way then.’ Cassi stooped down to pick up her eight-month-
old baby. ‘So you’ve been a naughty girl for Auntie Juanita, have you?’
The child’s face broke into a grin at the sight of her mother, and baby-speak
commenced in an unbroken chain as Cassi kissed her cheek and forehead.
‘Mike sent you a message on the fax,’ said Juanita. ‘He says can you pick up Maggie
on the way home?’
‘Is he going to be late?’
‘I don’t think so.’ She looked at the paper. ‘He is mentioning something about a
helicopter.’
‘Helicopter?’ Cassi frowned. ‘What does he need a helicopter for, tonight of all
nights?’
Juanita shrugged her ignorance.
‘Set a date with Bob yet?’ asked Cassi as she pulled on Andi’s jacket.
‘Four weeks. Would Maggie like to be bridesmaid?’
Cassi thought of her twelve-year-old step-daughter, the only child of Mike’s first
marriage which had ended so tragically. ‘I’m sure she would. Do you want me to ask
her?’
‘Would you mind?’
‘Not at all.‘ She looked at her watch. ‘Better fly. I want to miss the rush hour. The
Rotterdam by-pass is not a good place to be at five o’clock.’
‘Don’t forget Maggie,’ Juanita called after her in the corridor. Cassi waved her
acknowledgement and so did Andi.
THE fourtrack pulled into the gathering traffic smoothly and roared down the A15
motorway and into the Oude Maas Tunnel. Two-point-nine litres of turbo-diesel engine
kept Cassi in the fast lane as she headed alongside the disused oil terminals which
once were the life-line for Europoort harbour and the Maas estuary. Now, the area was
one big space port, just two kilometres from the conveniently-situated Hoek van
Holland. In ten minutes, she was pulling off the motorway into Dordrecht where she
collected Maggie from outside the school.
She pulled back out into the stream of traffic. ‘Rehearsals go all right?’
‘Terrific,’ said the grinning twelve-year-old as they turned under the railway bridge
and drove along the long narrow road toward Mookhoek. ‘We’ve got a dress rehearsal next
Tuesday.’
‘Looking forward to the show?’
‘I’ve got butterflies about it. Sometimes, I wish I hadn’t volunteered.’
Cassi laughed pleasantly. ‘It’ll be all right on the night.’
After Mookhoek, they turned left beside the stream and then over the bridge just
short of Strijensas. The farm at the end of the somewhat secluded drive, no longer used
for its original purpose, seemed to greet them as they pulled into the yard and parked
under a dutch barn.
‘Will daddy be home soon?’ asked Maggie as Andi squawked to be let out of the
restraining straps of her child seat.
‘I hope so, darling. Pop in and put the kettle on, would you?’
When Cassi entered the kitchen, Maggie was holding up an envelope which had been
pushed under the door. ‘It’s for you.’
‘No stamp?’
Maggie shook her head. ‘It must have come by hand.’
Cassi frowned. ‘Someone who knew where to find us? Out here?’
‘Aren’t you going to open it?’
‘In a minute. Let me get some food for Andi first or else we’ll never hear the last
of it.’
Maggie cocked her head. ‘Sounds like a helicopter.’
‘Your father, I expect. And I haven’t even thought about dinner yet.’
‘Why is daddy coming home in his helicopter?’
‘Don’t ask me, pet. You’ll be able to ask him yourself in a minute.’
The noise level reached a crescendo and then died away as the helicopter landed in
the open space behind one of the barns. By the time Cassi had Andi in her high chair
with baby food on her plate, the door opened and Mike walked in. He had a rather pretty
teenage girl with him. Cassi frowned.
‘Babysitter,’ Mike clarified as he kissed his wife. ‘You and I are going out on the
town tonight.’
‘Out on the town? But I have nothing to wear.’
‘Ta-da!’ he announced, pulling out a package like a rabbit from a hat.
Cassi had fallen in love with Mike whilst they were marooned in Saturn orbit. They
married a few months later and moved to the farm after a short honeymoon in East
Anglia. Since then, they had been to Andromeda and back and survived many adventures
together. She loved his tall frame, his almost black hair, his brown eyes which had
seemed so dark and almost oppressive at first and now had become warm and inviting. His
job as Security Marshal at the base kept him fairly busy, and out at odd times, but
they had both been drawn into a warm, comfortable relationship which satisfied them
both.
She unpacked the carrier bag and held up the dress. ‘But it’s so...’
‘Sexy?’
‘Short.’
‘Short? It suits you right down to the ground.’
Cassi smiled wryly. ‘If this hemline ever comes to within a metre of the ground, I’ll
be very surprised indeed. I only have to bow slightly and everyone will see my
undwear.’
Mike turned to his companion for support. ‘What do you think, Nicole? Won’t she look
fabulous in it?’
The redhead looked Cassi over. ‘It may be a bit young for her.’
Cassi laughed and tossed her head of golden hair. ‘Come off it. I’m twenty-two, not
fifty-two.’
Nevertheless, the implied challenge was there and she agreed. Fifteen minutes later,
Mike whistled. ‘Wow! Now that’s what I call sexy.’
‘You,’ said Cassi, poking a finger in his chest; ‘Are swiftly becoming a dirty old
man.’
‘With you around, who wouldn’t be?’ He turned to Nicole. ‘Will you be all right?’
‘Sure.’ She opened her bag. ‘I brought my nightie.’
Cassi looked down at the scrap of virtually transparent material which seemed no
bigger than a handkerchief, and then grabbed her husband’s arm. ‘Come on, let’s go
before you change your mind and decide to stay at home with the babysitter.’
‘What about your letter?’ reminded Maggie.
Mike frowned. They normally had everything addressed to the office in Europoort.
‘Letter?’
Cassi inserted a long finger into the top of the envelope and slit it neatly open. It
contained a single sheet of paper. Mike watched as Cassi’s face went white and then
snatched the paper from her hand as she slowly sat down. It read: “ SUCH LOVELY
CHILDREN. IT WOULD BE A SHAME IF ANYTHING HAPPENED TO THEM.”
Tears were in her eyes as Mike punched numbers into his cellfone.
‘Stan? I need your help. Can you come over? Better bring Terry.’
In twenty minutes a second helicopter stood beside the first, and the kitchen-diner
was crowded as Cassi supped tea from a mug.
‘Don’t worry,’ a balding man was saying to her husband. ‘Terry and I will take care
of everything. You just go off and enjoy yourselves.’
Terry Green, an athletic young officer with well-developed muscles and the speed to
use them well, was eyeing up the babysitter with serious interest. Mike leaned over and
whispered in Stan’s ear. ‘Don’t let her put her nightie on yet or you’ll get no sense
at all out of Terry.’
Stan’s eyebrows rose. ‘Like that, eh?’ He laughed. ‘Sometimes I wish I was young
again.’
‘Call me if you need me back in a hurry.’
‘Taking this seriously?’
‘Until General Phillips is behind bars for good, I’m taking no chances. Cassi and I
are among very few witnesses that he arranged the deaths of a lot of people, and he has
always fulfiled his threats to date.’
‘And you believe he will carry them out now?’
‘I believe he will try.’
Cassi took a lot of persuading to leave the children but Mike was adamant that his
two armed security officers were more than capable of looking after a teenage girl and
two children. The helicopter rose into the air and then turned south-west, following
the coast for while before turning inland.
‘Where are we going?’ asked a subdued Cassi.
‘Where do you think? Where we had our very first meal together.’
‘Paris?’
He nodded as the autoroute appeared beneath them and the sun began to lower away to
their right.
‘Happy?’ he ventured.
‘Worried,’ she replied.
Mike laughed as he veered up and over power cables close to Rove. ‘Stan is an old
hand at this kind of thing. He might look past his sell-by date, but he has the
instincts of a wily old fox. Also, Terry is chief instructor at the gun club as well as
Regional Weight-Lifting Champion. Between them, they won’t let anything happen to the
kids. Not only that, the Base Security Office is within three minutes flight. They are
safe.’
Cassi visibly relaxed and pushed her hair back from her face. ‘Okay, I’m being
paranoid. I just can’t forget that they killed Tara’s baby.’
‘The people who most likely did that died at Andromeda, you know that. It was you who
killed them.’
‘You make me sound like some kind of marine commando.’
‘I didn’t mean to. However, when you turned Wayfarer Two into a thermonuclear bomb to
neutralise the black hole, you did the whole universe a favour.’
‘Okay, you’ve convinced me. Wine me and dine me.’
A mischievous smile touched his lips. ‘I had a little more than that in mind. I
booked a room at the hotel we stayed at before.’
She turned to face him. ‘But I have to be back early in the morning.’
‘It won’t hurt to take a day off. Juanita can cover for you.’
‘It‘s not that simple.’
‘Yes, it is. I’ve booked a day off so that we can spend the whole day together if we
want to.’
‘I have to be there,’ she said, looking down at her hands in her lap.
‘You take your work too seriously,’ he said a little sarcastically.
She turned towards him again, her eyes pleading. ‘Don’t let us fight, not tonight.’
Mike was silent for a moment but then sighed. ‘Okay. We wine and dine and forget the
hotel.’
‘Don’t you dare.’
‘What?’
‘We’ll have a couple of hours to spare, won’t we?’ she said cheekily.
He glanced at her quickly. ‘A hundred pound room for two hours?’
‘Don’t you think I’m worth it?’
He grinned. ‘Okay, you convinced me. Two hours, best of three rounds. Satisfied?’
‘No. But I guess I will be by morning.’
THE man in the raincoat watched as the couple entered the hotel later, laughing and
giggling like teenagers on their first date. He saw the length of Cassi’s dress, the
look in Mike’s eyes. He saw them enter the lift, deep in passionate embrace before the
doors had properly closed. He smiled and then dialled on his phone.
‘Go!’ was all he said.
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Cassi yawned as the helicopter rose into the dawn sky. Few clouds dotted the rosy
eastern horizon as Mike headed north-west, his tie undone. He glanced over at his wife
in the other seat while she stretched, her arms high above her head.
He grinned. ‘Good grief, you look sexy, even early in the morning.’
‘Without having had a wink of sleep and with my hair all over the place?’
He jerked his head towards her short black dress. ‘You’ll knock the lads cold in that
outfit.’
‘I’m not giving them the chance. Drop me near the gym and I’ll get changed before I
face the rabble.’ She looked at her watch. ‘Damn, I’m going to be late.’
Mike grinned. ‘It was worth it, wasn’t it?’
Cassi sighed. ‘Yes, I suppose so.’
‘Thank you very much,’ he scolded playfully. ‘Is that all the thanks I get?’
She looked round at him. ‘Until tonight - yes.’
‘Looks good, doesn’t it?’ Mike said after a while, pointing ahead to Europoort.
Beside the wide Maas estuary was the flat space terminal and, dead centre, the launch
complex itself. Off to the left, between the sea and Brielle harbour, was the long pair
of wide runways. As they watched, a Lunar shuttle rolled along the north one, seemingly
too big to leave the ground, much less fly to the moon. As they curved round the south
of the complex in normal security approach pattern, the shuttle accelerated rapidly and
pulled up into the sky, its rocket boosters pushing it up at a forty-five degree angle.
Soon, the main engines would fire to take it right out of the atmosphere and needed
daily supplies would reach their destination.
‘Rather be up there?’ he ventured.
She shrugged as they came in to land beside Europa Corporation’s seemingly deserted
sports complex. ‘Sometimes. Most of the time, I’d rather be wherever you are.’
‘Only most of the time?’ he jibed.
‘I just wish we could combine the two. It was fun going to Andromeda together.’
‘One day, perhaps; when the kids are grown up. Space will always be there, waiting
for us.’
She smiled as they touched down. ‘First, I’ve got to show a bunch of green cadets how
they get a shuttle up to Orion without causing a major catastrophe.’
Mike laughed. ‘You’ll do it. You taught Steve and the others, didn’t you? They were
just as green at first.’
‘That,’ she said, unbuckling her harnesss; ‘Is my sole consolation.’
CASSI pushed open the changing room door and stepped inside, sighing with relief at
finding it empty. Quickly, she pulled off her dress and hung it carefully in her
locker. She had just stepped into her shorts and trainers and was in the act of pulling
her tee shirt on over her head when she realised she was not alone. How much had they
seen? By the lust-filled looks on the faces of Neil and his friends as they encircled
her, a great deal more than was prudent. She smiled. ‘I didn’t think you were actually
capable of getting up this early.’
‘You invited us,’ said Neil. ‘Remember?’
‘Well?’ she said with a wry smile. ‘What are you waiting for?’
MIKE wheeled the helicopter over the barns and dropped to the ground beyond,
calculating that he would have time for a spot of breakfast before he would have to
take Maggie to school and Nicole back to her mother in Rotterdam. He landed, and then
whistled as he strode across the yard, realising for the first time that he hadn’t
slept for what seemed like ages and could catch up on rest during the day - if little
Andi gave him the chance.
He stopped a few metres from the back door. It had a pane of clear glass in the top
half and, dead centre, it now also had a small round hole. Looking up at the first-
floor windows, he saw no movement. Odd, he thought, it was almost seven and Maggie
would normally be up, if no-one else. Cautiously, he backed away to the helicopter and
lifted the seat panel. From behind it, he retrieved a short-barrelled repeater shotgun;
standard issue for base security staff. He also opened the glove compartment and took
out his automatic, shoving it into his jacket pocket.
The yard was still quiet as he ran across it, zig-zag fashion, until he was beside
the back door once more. He took a deep breath, pumped a round into the breach of the
shotgun and then carefully pushed down the handle and kicked open the door. No
fusillade of gunfire greeted him. Silence reigned. Was his imagination getting the
better of him? Dropping to his haunches, he peered round the door frame at knee height.
The kitchen was a mess, but what caught his eye was the pair of boots in the opposite
doorway leading to the hall. They were still on someone’s feet but the wearer was flat
on his back.
‘Stan?’ he whispered but got no response. ‘Terry?’
He straightened and took out his phone, pressing the red button which immediately
linked him with security headquarters. ‘Don? Code One. Man down. My place. Bring a team
and medics.’
‘Where are you?’ came the reply.
‘Back door, outside.’ He studied the make-up of the hole in the glass for a moment.
‘Looks like they used a high velocity steel tip - probably from across the yard.’ His
eyes swept the grounds. Plenty of cover on the other side, especially if they had come
under cover of darkness when there was a light on in the kitchen. They couldn’t fail to
miss an unsuspecting target. ‘I’m going in.’
‘Mike,’ came the urgent reply. ‘Wait for the team. We’re on our way. Give us two
minutes.’
‘I’m going in,’ said Mike again and shoved the unit back into his pocket.
THE youths were taken aback for a second at Cassi’s brazen reply which was all the time
she needed to step over the central bench and into the gymnasium. When they followed
her inside, she was already skipping, the rope simply a blur.
‘Neil said we can have some fun if we catch you,’ said Benny a little nervously.
She backed away, still skipping. ‘Ah, but you haven’t caught me yet.’
Two of them suddenly lunged for her but she was too quick for them, hopping backwards
into the centre of the huge gym. They spread out, walking, trotting, then running
towards her; but she simply ran back wards, still skipping. ‘Come on, you can do better
than that.’
‘Head her off,‘ shouted Neil as the chase headed towards the fire doors.
Cassi crashed into them without a hesitation, threw the rope at the closest, then
turned and ran, the sight of her long legs dragging them after her like a pack of
sheep. The playing field was wide and empty as they chased her across it and into the
trees beyond.
MIKE looked down at the single hole in the centre of Stan’s forehead. He wouldn’t have
felt a thing, Mike thought. In the older man’s hand was clutched a teamaker and there
was a brown stain on the floor beside it - almost dry. But where were the others?
He slipped into the hall and crouched beside the stairway. Silence.
‘Terry?’ he called from the shelter, not wishing to be blown in half by friendly
fire. The reply was a faint groan from upstairs.
First checking the downstairs rooms, virtually untouched, he ventured back to the
stairway, climbing carefully, shotgun at the ready. He found Terry on the landing, face
down in an ocean of blood. Mike carefully turned him over and felt sick. Long dead. The
groan came again.
He crawled toward the children’s bedroom.The door was open and, on the floor in the
entrance, his staple gun. He frowned. That should be in the garage. He had bought it
the previous week so that he could dry-line the cellar. It was a new device which fired
serrated zinc-coated staples into soft limestone walls. The staples didn’t go deeper
than an inch or so and made a relatively small entry hole. They worked because, inside
the fabric of the wall, the jagged metal twisted and flared out, forming a perfect
anchor point. Boards mounted with these staples stayed put.
Peering into the bedroom at skirting height, he looked inside and could see nothing
worthy of alarm. In the background, he could hear the thwack-thwack of several rotors -
approaching fast.
‘Maggie?’ he called out softly, his heart in his mouth.
The moan came from the bed.
With total disregard for his safety, he leapt to his feet and stared down at the
figure on the bed. It was not Maggie.
CLOSE to Brede Water, Cassi trotted along the beach as the tide ebbed. Fifty metres
behind her, the youths were running out of steam. She turned to face them, jogging in
reverse. ‘Getting tired?’
The sound of her taunting voice gave them a sudden burst of energy. They were within
twenty yards of the gym, having completed a five mile circuit when, with gritted teeth,
Neil spurted forward, desperate to release his frustrations upon her. At that moment,
Cassi slipped and fell on the dewy grass.
NICOLE was tied, spread-eagle, across the bed, her eyes wide and staring at the
ceiling, her night-dress spattered with blood. Nauseous, he looked away and opened a
window to signal to the men who were pouring from three helicopters, a dozen in combat
blues, three in whites. He knelt beside the bed and touched the teenager’s forehead
lightly. She instinctively jumped which must have caused her terrible agony for she
screamed loud and long.
‘It’s all right,’ soothed Mike. ‘You’re okay now.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she cried through her tears of relief at recognising Mike. ‘I’m so
sorry.’
‘Shh. It’s okay. We’ll soon have you in hospital.’ He heard the steps in the hall and
called out: ‘Up here.’
As men checked out the house and medics flooded in, Mike got a chance to see what
they had done to Nicole. Three pieces of paper had been arranged to form a warning he
couldn’t ignore. Each had been laid onto the front of her torso and, so that he would
get the full import of the message, the notes had been sadistically stapled into the
soft tissue of her breasts and belly to read; ‘YOUR GIRL NEXT.’
CASSI rolled to one side as they pounced but she was not quick enough. Neil pinned her
arms while others grabbed her legs and held them firmly. She fought with all her
strength but five of them was too many, even for her.
MEDICS took over, looking into Nicole’s eyes and ears as only medics know how while
Mike carefully cut the thongs holding her wrists. The skin of both her wrists and
ankles had been torn away where she had obviously struggeld and screamed in her agony.
Whoever could have done this to a poor young girl had to be totally without feeling. He
wanted to ask her about Maggie and Andi but was not so unfeeling himself. He guessed he
would soon find out.
The medics carefully lifted Nicole onto a stretcher as his own team declared the area
secure. Don Parsons stood in the doorway, machine carbine in hand, as they pushed past
him, his face grim from a brief sight of what they had done to Nicole. As they
hesitated, the teenager turned to look at Mike. He smiled. She smiled back. ‘I didn’t
tell them,’ she said and passed out.
CASSI felt the cold on her midriff as they tugged at her tee-shirt. With all her
strength, she arched her back and heaved her body upwards. At the same instant, Neil
grunted and fell off her. Ben swore viciously, holding his head in his hands. Cassi
jerked her arms free and caught another by the hair and pulled him sideways.
‘Get off,’ came the strange voice as the heavy sports bag struck again, catching Neil
full in the face.
Cassi lifted her legs and rolled to one side as the pressure eased a little and got
to her hands and knees, filthy from the exchange. The boys were all running.
She got to her feet and hugged the newcomer. ‘Thanks, Janine.’
MIKE and Don stared down at Terry’s body as the medics rolled it onto a stretcher.
‘Took twenty or more soft-nosed slugs before he went down,’ announced Mike’s second-
in-command. ‘He must have put up one hell of a fight.’
‘My god, what a mess.’
They started down the stairs and met a dark-haired female officer who pointed to a
stain on the wall. ‘He nailed one of them here. That’s shotgun debris.’
‘I think you’re right, Sarah. How many of them were there, do you reckon?’
‘Oh, three or four, at a guess. They wanted to make sure nothing went wrong.’
Mike nodded grimly and left her to her further observations. The doctor was waiting
for them downstairs.
‘Will she live?’ asked Mike.
He shrugged. ‘Can’t say till I get a look inside her. Those staples have made a real
mess.’
‘They’ll come out, won’t they?’
‘You tell me. It is almost certain she will lose both breasts, they’re probably
chewed to shreds inside. The third one may have damaged her spleen. I’ll know more when
I’ve given her a proper scan.’
‘Where will you take her?’
‘Rotterdam General, assuming she survives that long.’
‘She doesn’t seen to have lost much blood.’
‘There speaks a non-medic. She has been in constant agony for hours, I’m surprised
her heart hasn’t given up by now.’
Mike grabbed his arm. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You don’t think those staples were all put in together, do you?’
‘You mean...?’
‘The bruising around the puncture hole in her right breast is well established but
not so much in the other, and even less around the one in her abdomen. My guess is they
started on her sometime before midnight and played games with her for most of the
night.’
‘Was she..?’
‘Was she raped, you mean?’
Mike nodded, fearing the worst in spite of the fact that she had still been wearing
her panties. But what could be worse than what he had already seen?
The doctor shook his head. ‘Strange though it might appear, there is no immediate
evidence of penile activity. They got their kicks in other ways.’
Mike sat down heavily as the doctor left to his ministrations. It was his fault. If
he hadn’t brought her here....
‘Any sign of my girls?’ he asked eventually, dreading the moment when he would have
to tell Cassi.
Don shook his head and then clapped him on the shoulder. ‘But don’t you worry. We’ll
get them back for you.’
‘Yes,‘ said Mike quietly nodding towards the medical helicopter which was just taking
off. ‘But will they be like that?’
THE classroom door slammed back on its hinges as Cassi burst in, immaculate in her pale
blue flight suit with maroon flashes which identified currently-serving Europa flight
personnel. Unaware of the drama at home, she placed her hands on either side of her
desk and simply stared at the class. Some students saw the look on her face and hurried
to their seats. Others assumed their normal stance.
‘Sit!’ she said quietly and evenly, without emotion.
Taking a deep breath, she came out from behind her desk and faced them. ‘Before you
all disperse for the weekend, I think it’s time we all got one or two things straight.’
Silence gradually came over the room as she leant on Janine’s desk.
‘Up to now, I have tolerated all kinds of questionable behaviour from some of you in
the mistaken view that you would improve, given time. You all have something to offer
the space programme. If that were not so, you wouldn’t be here.’
No-one dared speak.
‘In six months time, Wayfarer Three will be completed and a crew for her will be
chosen from persons in this room - that is supposing any of you qualify, something that
is seriously in doubt at this moment of time. The rest of you will be assigned to
domestic duties between here and Luna Base where you can do little damage. I have to
say that some of you may not even last out today.’
A buzz broke out which she allowed to run until it fizzled out.
‘Who.. who makes the decision as to personnel?’ asked Janine.
Cassi looked down at the girl and smiled. ‘I do.’
‘But isn’t that a decision for the Directorate?’ protested Ben Parker.
‘Not any more,’ said Cassi. ‘I have just spoken to the Director, Alan Thompson, who
has placed the whole affair within my jurisdiction.’
‘What did you tell him?’ sneered Neil.
She looked straight at him. ‘Nothing involving any events of today.’
He didn’t answer.
‘From now on, you will fly by my rules and my rules only. One.’ She counted on her
fingers. ‘There will be no further sexual harassment of any kind. If I observe the
slightest hint of male chauvinism...’ She looked at Neil then switched her gaze to
Carla at the back; ‘Or petty feminism, I will have that person grounded - permanently.’
‘You can’t do that,’ protested the dark-haired, gum-chewing Italian.
Cassi looked straight at her. ‘Try me.’
Carla met her gaze for almost a minute before she backed down.
‘At Europa, we all work as a team. No-one is more or less important than the others.
A Wayfarer commander relies totally upon his crew. He has to know that the pilot will
control the Proton Drive effectively, that the Navigation Officer will take him into
the right orbit. He knows that the Mission Controller will provide the back-up,
including ground crew who service the ships. Even the shuttle pilots have to be relied
upon to ferry supplies into orbit. There is no room anywhere for cowboys, racists or
sexists.’
Fifty-four eyes watched her as she returned to the blackboard.
‘Second rule. You will attend all the classes to which you have been assigned. The
moment you begin to think that Professor Akherd and Doctor Bartek are just stuffy
academics, please remember that they have all been there, while you were still at
nursery class. Heinrich Akherd was part of the original flight control team in the
nineties and it was Hans Bartek and his father who actually invented the Proton Drive.
Bob Walker, who takes your lesson in fusion production, was his chief assistant.’
‘Is it true that your father, Admiral Duncan, was Commander of the Wayfarer Two
mission which went to Andromeda?’ asked Janine.
‘Yes, that is true.’
‘And have you been in space for very long, Miss?’
Cassi nodded. ‘I have spent twenty of my twenty-two years in space.’
‘You must have started young,’ sneered Neil.
‘I was born in space,’ she replied calmly. ‘And what credits do you have?’
‘My great-uncle was first man on the moon.’
‘Well, Mr Armstrong. I can’t help wondering how proud he would have been of this
morning’s little escapade.’
Neil fell silent.
‘Third rule. I have learned a lesson myself today.’
One of the lads tittered.
She looked straight at him. ‘Out!’
‘What?’
‘You are off the programme. Pick up your gear on the way out and I will have Security
see you off the premises. I’m not going to be screwed around by you or anyone else.’
‘But, Miss...’
‘Didn’t you hear what I said?’
‘My father will kill me.’
‘You should have thought of that before you got up to your mischief this morning.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Could I hear that again? A little louder, perhaps?’
‘I’m sorry!’ he shouted, getting to his feet to leave in disgrace. ‘Satisfied?’
‘Sit down,’ she said quietly.
After a moment, he obeyed.
‘Starting Monday, each of you will spend at least three hours a day in the gymnasium.
If you are not physically fit, you are neither use nor ornament in space.’
‘That‘s not fair.’
‘I think that is perfectly fair. If you can’t even catch me on the ground, how will
you survive in negative-G?’
‘We did catch you,’ grunted Neil.
‘Eventually,’ Cassi said softly. ‘But then five strapping young men were seen off by
one girl. How do you account for that, Mr Armstrong?’
He couldn’t.
‘I will now divide you into three teams of nine. Each team will eat together, work
together, sleep together...’ She hesitated at the subdued laughter and waited for it to
die away. ‘I meant that literally. You will share bunkrooms and showers, meal tables
and study periods as you would in space. There will be no hanky-panky of any kind and I
will allocate points for behaviour as well as for professional competence.’
‘Who will be team leaders, Miss?’ asked Marie Duval.
‘The team leaders, whom you will obey without question...‘ She paused and then
repeated herself: ‘Without question - are Neil Armstrong, Carla Sporetti and..’ She
looked down. ‘..Janine Hunt.’
Roars of agreement and disagreement filled the room but Cassi ignored them all until
it became quiet again.
‘Janine may be a little embarrassed if I repeat to you something she told me in
confidence this morning. But I am going to tell you anyway.’ Cassi took the young
woman’s hand. ‘She told me that wants to become the first virgin in space.’
Laughter broke out and Janine blushed. Cassi waited for silence.
‘And you lot had better make damn sure that her wish comes true.’
SOMETHING bothered Mike but he couldn’t work it out - something just didn’t fit. What
was it Nicole had said? “ I didn’t tell them.”
Didn’t tell them what? Her mother, Antoinette Duchanet, was daytime receptionist at
the base and not privy to any secrets. Nicole was a poor, innocent schoolgirl. What did
she know? More important, what did the kidnappers think she knew?
The doctor’s preliminary report suggested they had not just left her as a warning,
they had tortured her. They could have killed her as they had Stan and Terry, but they
hadn’t. Why not? They left her alive - in terrible agony, but alive. With good surgery
and care, she could conceivably survive to live a reasonably normal life. They had not
raped her which meant those men had been professionals. But they didn’t just snatch
Maggie and Andi and run, they wasted hours systematically abusing Nicole. But why? She
knew nothing.
Think! he told himself. What was it? He went back upstairs to the bedroom and tried
摘要：

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