Infinite Reef by Karl Kofoed Read Free Book Online Page B

Alex the creeps. “If it is a probe, then it would be most active at the outset of its mission. Isn’t that right?” Stubbs took a deep breath, but didn’t reply. The cart reached the rear of the command center and Stubbs stepped out. Without comment he went directly into the building, followed by the guards.
    When Alex and Mary got inside the Commander was at his station talking to Captain Wysor. Johnny stayed with Alex and Mary, ushering them to their usual place in the lounge at the rear of the control room. Without comment, he returned to his own console.
    Alex sat down on the white foam sofa next to his wife, feeling helpless, but he knew that there was no point in mentioning it.
    Mary turned to him and smiled. “It isn’t a demotion for them to put us here, you know,” she said, almost whispering.
    Alex chuckled. “Don’t tell me. You’re going to say look at the bright side, at least we’re near the food.”
    Mary frowned. “No, I wasn’t.”
    The control room was a blur of activity around the figures of Stubbs and the Captain. Alex didn’t envy them. They had to make some quick and difficult decisions. What lay buried in a crater a few meters away might mean the potential destruction of the Goddard . He wondered if any of them could have envisioned an alien object inside the ship, let alone in the heart of the biosphere. On the other hand, the thing might also be completely benign, just some exotic piece of inert space debris.
    Meanwhile the residue on the outer hull was being examined, and pictures of it were now displayed on the large screen at the far side of the control room. The view was from a stationary location, probably a remote cam similar to the one sitting on Howarth’s egg. Alex surveyed the other screens in the control room and saw no evidence of the image they had watched for so long, although he did notice that one fairly prominent screen was filled with static. “You know, Mary,” he said with alarm.
    “I think they lost contact with that probe on the egg.”
    Mary’s eyes were already on the blank screen. “You may be right.”
    Alex wondered if anyone else had noticed. After all, the staff did have more immediate problems. He considered asking Johnny about the sonde, but decided to let events take their course. “Geebrew?” he asked Mary.
    She looked at him blankly. “Bed would be better. There we can watch what’s going on and ask questions of the computer.” A twinkle of light glinted in Mary’s eyes. “And we can fuck!”
    Alex smiled, almost blushing. “I think we’re under orders. Geebrew? Coffee?”
    “Tea,” she said glumly. “Callisto black.”
    Alex remembered what the dolphins had said about Mary. She seemed fine, but the memory of his conversation rekindled his concern. He resolved to keep his mouth shut about it for the moment and raise the question when the right time came. Besides, the dolphin hadn’t indicated that her condition was serious. Alex got up and punched in their order on the refreshment panel: one geebrew, one Callisto black for the lady.
    5 After an hour – much of it filled with shouts and occasional hysteria – the control room settled down. Stubbs lorded over it all red faced and exhausted, yet he managed to bring calm to the group.
    The big screen that had been filled with static now had a closeup view of the celebrated black sphere. Several crewmen had bravely set up lights on the crater’s edge to illuminate the object. Attached to them, Alex surmised, were sensors of all kinds. He hoped they’d soon have a handle on the nature of thing that had planted itself in the heart of their ship. In the meantime, every wrist receiver aboard had given its owner the personalized message that the ship was now under martial law, although they used the more popular term Red Alert.
    Mary was sipping her second cup of tea, lemon spice this time, when Professor Baltadonis left his place next to the Commander and returned to the lounge area. He