Richard Russo - Ship of Fools

“That’s too many, all right,” I said. “Nazia Abouti doesn’t fit the pattern, and with her you assume an extended incubation period besides. You’re also making assumptions about Sherry Winton that can’t be confirmed—it may all have been an accident, just as she claimed. And how can you add Starlin? All he did was get understandably angry about what he perceived was a deliberate attack that nearly killed him.”

“ Perceived is the significant word,” the bishop said. “If he imagined it, then perhaps some psychological deterioration was occurring.”

“If he was imagining it,” Pär put in with a sneer, “then it was an accident, and you can’t say Sherry Winton was affected. You can’t count them both, for Christ’s sake.”

“Yes we can,” the bishop replied.

He didn’t explain, so Nikos did. “Winton and Starlin have both disappeared. There have been reports of confrontations, fighting, ship damage. The two of them appear to be stalking each other through the ship.”

I shook my head. “I don’t care about any of that. No, I do care, but there are other considerations. We’ve reached an area in the alien ship with Earth-normal gravity. That’s significant. Long passages, rooms, all with gravity. We have no idea how much more is like this. And we’ve found things. Like the box.” I paused, reluctant to say aloud what I had thought for some time. “None of us has said it, but I know that many of us believe that box was made by human hands.” I let that sit. In the edges of my sight I could see some slow nodding of heads.

“We’re close to something important,” I continued. “We all feel it. There is evidence that human beings have been on this ship. Maybe not anymore, but at one time. We can’t stop now.” I started to say more, but stopped myself. I didn’t really need any more arguments. It was there, simple and clear and compelling. If they were not persuaded, nothing more I could say would help. “We can’t stop now,” I repeated.

Surprisingly, it was Casterman who spoke. “I believe Bartolomeo is right, Eminence.”

“You believe he’s right,” the bishop said.

“Yes. Unless you are here, I don’t think you can understand what is happening. You have to feel it. There’s something in that ship, Eminence. I don’t know how long it will take us to find it, but it’s there.”

“Perhaps we don’t want to find it.” The bishop leaned forward again. “Perhaps what is in that ship… is Evil.”

Casterman shook his head, but said no more.

“I will add my voice to theirs,” Dr. G. said. Another surprise. “There is a change in the spirits of these people, and it is still here despite what has happened with Leona. You asked me to become a part of this mission so I could observe, assess, recommend. Well, I recommend we be allowed to continue. I think it would be devastating to all of us, as well as to many others on the Argonos , to suspend the exploration now, permanently or otherwise. In fact, although I want to accompany Leona back to the Argonos , and stay with her for a few days, eventually I will want to rejoin this group of people. I’ll want to rejoin this mission as soon as I can.”

“And if there is some contagion?” Nikos asked.

Dr. G. frowned. “How likely is that, Captain? Not very, I think, and it’s a risk I believe we are all prepared to take.”

“Is there anyone who doesn’t want to stay there?” Nikos asked. “Is there anyone there who thinks exploration should be suspended, if only for a short time?”

The only response was a number of shaking heads.

“Aiyana?”

She, too, shook her head. “I’m with them. We should stay. We should keep going. Something’s going to happen soon.”

Nikos sighed. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

After more argument, the Executive Council voted. The vote was close, but we won. We would stay here and continue exploring.

I did not like what I saw in the bishop’s face, however. There was no real acceptance in his expression. Rather, I detected a smoldering anger, and a disturbing sense that he was merely biding his time. I realized that I feared the bishop more than the dangers of the alien ship. I thought again of the bishop’s three excursions, wondering what he had found and what he planned. Wait, and watch our backs, Cardenas had said. I was afraid that wouldn’t be enough.

TWOdays later, the second-shift team was in a small, low-ceilinged room, preparing to try another door. Pär was on point, and his video was displayed on the shuttle monitor. He stood in front of a narrow door with a simple wheel mechanism set into the wall beside it. “It can’t be this easy,” he said.

He took hold of the wheel with both hands, turned it, and the door slid open. A shower of ice crystals poured out of the opening; the picture frosted over, and Pär yelled, “Shit!”

A harsh expulsion of breath. The monitor was grayed out. Rita Hollings fumbled with the console, switched over to Casterman’s camera. Pär was sitting on the floor, his helmet covered with ice crystals. More crystals were on his suit, the floor, the wall beside him.

“Shit,” he said again. “I can’t see a damn thing!”

“Are you all right?” Maria Vegas asked. Presumably she was somewhere behind Casterman.

Pär nodded. With his gloved hand he brushed crystals from his helmet until he had most of it cleared. Vegas came around Casterman and helped Pär to his feet.

“Thanks,” he said. Then: “What the hell was that?”

“Must you curse so much?” Casterman asked.

Pär turned to him. “Yes, I must.” Then, to those of us watching, he asked, “Whose camera we on?”

“Casterman’s,” I said.

“Then switch over to Maria’s so I don’t have to keep looking at him.” He turned to face Maria Vegas.

Hollings turned and looked questioningly at me. I saw I would have to make another change in the teams. I shrugged and nodded, and she switched over. Pär now appeared to be looking out at us.

“Okay,” I said. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. All these ice crystals came flying out, startled me, and I fell on my ass.”

“Anyone got any brilliant ideas about it?”

Rogers was beside me, and he nodded. “I would guess that it was pressurized atmosphere.”

THEthree of them moved into the next room. Now we were on Pär’s camera. The cabin looked a lot like the air lock in the outer hull. In the wall directly opposite the door through which they’d entered was an identical door. Next to it was an identical wheel, and when Pär looked back at the open door, we could see another wheel on the inside beside it.

Rogers spoke up. “I’m fairly certain you won’t be able to open the next door before sealing this one. This has to be another air lock. But before you try it, I suggest someone go back and seal off the previous door as well. The chances are good that there is air beyond the next door, and we don’t want to lose it. The air lock should take care of that, but we don’t know how old this ship is, or how long it’s been abandoned, and I don’t think we should count on the air lock door being secure. So I suggest we seal another door as a backup, and hope for the best.”

“Okay,” said Maria Vegas. “Makes sense, and it shouldn’t take too long.”

“I’ll do it,” Casterman said.

While Casterman was gone, there wasn’t much talking. Maria and Pär explored the air lock. The walls had hooks and handles and panels that opened to reveal empty cabinets or lockers with more hooks.

“Someday,” Pär said, “we’re going to open one of these cabinet doors and something will actually be inside.” He laughed to himself. “And it will probably lunge out and kill us.”