Into the Unknowable Ch. 18

Captain Kerensky and her company took a somewhat circuitous route towards the bridge. They explored and examined every villa within a few hundred metres of their path for other prisoners who, like Professor Penrose, didn't realise that they were no longer detained.

There was Colonel Musashi who'd been sitting in the garden sharpening branches from a tree into spears which he clearly intended to use as weapons. He was ferociously angry and took the first opportunity to storm off to find his soldiers. He barely listened to the captain's account of why he'd been held captive, although he admitted that he'd never accepted the account he'd been given that the Interplanetary Union no longer needed the services of a militia. He assumed that it was traitors within the Interplanetary Union who'd decided to imprison him. This was similar to the view taken by Major Schwarz who was discovered later. He ran off to accompany the colonel. He believed that the hostile takeover of the Intrepid should be countered with a proportionate military response. He also believed that the many Apparitions bedevilling the space ship were a potential hazard to the Intrepid's security and therefore needed to be eliminated.

The captain and her colleagues also rescued the Chief Petty Officer, other senior officers and some dissenting scientists. They all had their own stories to tell and all needed assurances that they were now free. The captain delegated this duty to more junior officers as they also became available.

At last a good body of officers had been gathered. There was enough staff to take effective control of the Intrepid and for Captain Kerensky to detail other officers with the task of locating the remaining prisoners in the outermost level. The priority was now to recover command of the bridge.

This troubled the captain. What she could see through the Intrepid's system was a full complement of officers manning the bridge. They looked precisely like the officers now accompanying her. She was anxious enough about encountering her own exact facsimile. She could only imagine the other officers' shock in encountering their own copies. What would Sheila Nkomo think if she were confronted by her own doppelganger? If she and her fellow officers weren't naked how would she even distinguish between who was real and who was a facsimile?

It wasn't simply the issue of encountering her exact copy that disturbed Nadezhda. She knew from her long relationship with Beatrice how strong, fast and intelligent the android could be. If a single android was so powerful, what chance did the captain and her officers have when confronted by a dozen or more of them? Perhaps Colonel Musashi and Major Schwarz were those with the best idea of how to handle the situation. Even given that, Captain Kerensky doubted whether the whole massed militia of the Intrepid, however disciplined and motivated it might be, had the capability to defeat the forces of Proxima Centauri.

Or even just one single representative.

The walk along the corridors towards the bridge was relatively uneventful. They met nobody on the way. This was unusual in itself. The rest of the crew must either be in their cabins or otherwise engaged. Nadezhda hadn't previously reflected on how disorientating and frightening life inside the Anomaly must be for most people aboard the space ship. The Apparitions' frequent unpredictable appearance must have been enough to make many doubt their sanity. How much more peculiar would it be for them to discover that for more than a year the ship had been under the effective control of an alien civilisation?

It was several weeks since Captain Kerensky and her officers had last been in the bridge. This was a long time for a serving officer to be derelict in her duties. It was quite reassuring for the captain and her officers to return to familiar parts of the space ship as they strode along the corridors. No one had a plan of action, but no plan could be made without knowing what might confront them. All the captain knew was that the systems the androids had put in place had somehow weakened. The force fields that enclosed the villas no longer functioned and Beatrice no longer made her regular visit to see her lover. Perhaps she and the other androids had somehow abandoned the space ship.

However, Nadezhda's hopes regarding Beatrice were dashed as the company entered the anteroom to the bridge. They could see through the windows to the bridge that it was deserted. But almost the moment they gathered together at the door to the bridge it opened from the inside and Beatrice came out.

She was carrying a small portable holoscreen and seemed as surprised to see Captain Kerensky and her senior officers as they were to see her. Captain Kerensky was probably the least surprised but also the most alarmed. She'd been careful not to allude to Beatrice's role in the alien takeover of the Intrepid as she feared that doing so would make her account appear even less plausible.

"It's you!" Nadezhda exclaimed. "Why are you here? What plans have you got for us?"

Beatrice looked at the captain and her colleagues with a strangely distracted expression. It seemed she had no plans for them at all.

"The Intrepid is all yours, captain," she said, as if to reassure her former captive. "You don't have to worry about me."