Rebirth Page 27

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  Inside the broom cupboard, Paul Divine woke up to a ghastly smell, and immediately began to cough and splutter, realising what the problem was he cried out for help while coughing, unconsciousness was almost upon him when he attempted to drag Charles Bragg towards the safety of the large open deck outside of the broom cupboard that was their bedchamber. Charles by now was also awake, he also was coughing, and spluttering but Paul Divine could not quite get the two of them to the safety that was so close before them, and he collapsed unconscious to the floor while Charles groped helplessly for help. Luckily, Paul`s cries for help had awoken their nearest neighbours. Simon Holmes and Joel Simons were the first on the scene and before finally losing consciousness; Paul managed to gasp out four words.

  "Gas, please help us." The gas soon became apparent to the two men who began to cough as well, but they still managed to pull Paul free of the confines of the small room. By then Jake Rhineland and John Hardwick had also arrived, who on realising that something was drastically wrong, went into the room and between them they managed to pull Charles Bragg from the room and out into the safety of the main deck. Hope Rhineland, Jake`s wife, along with many more of the colonists had been awoken by all the commotion, and on seeing the condition of the two agents, she told her husband to fetch the doctor, quickly.

  Doctor Schwartz was soon on the scene, but by then all traces of the chemicals and the gas that it produced had gone, evaporated into the air and rendered harmless by the ships scrubbers that constantly recirculated the air all over the large ship. Only the high-pressure toxic gas from the damaged pipe was left, unknown to anyone it had been this high-pressure gas that had saved the agents lives, for the high pressure of this gas pushed against the killer gas and kept most of it away from its intended victims. Mr McPherson who had just arrived could hear this high pressure gas escaping. He looked into the broom cupboard and could hear the gas entering it via the crack in the wall, and so knowing that there was a maintenance corridor very nearby he entered it and found that that it was also filling up with gas from a damaged pipe. From behind him a crewmember burst into the room with a gas mask on, and pushing McPherson aside turned off the gas at a control set high up on the wall, and it was none too soon for McPherson was feeling the effects from the gas and was decidedly unwell.

  "Here use this." The crewmember said and thrust a bottle of oxygen into McPherson`s hands who gratefully took in a deep breath of clean air. The crewmember then flicked another switch and the room was soon filled with clean air while the toxic gas was sucked away into space. Alarm bells had gone off immediately the pressure in the damaged pipe had dropped, and this is why the crewmember had arrived so promptly.

  Both Paul and Charles were unconscious so Schwartz thought the best thing to do would be to hook the two men up to the ships medical apparatus. This would check all of their vital signs and give whatever advice it thought suitable for any particular medical situation it found.

  "I need your help lads, Jake, Joel, run up to the clinic and bring down two trolleys." Nurse Schwartz then appeared on the scene with one trolley, so only Jake took the ship`s elevator up to the clinic on the middle deck to collect a second trolley.

  "Right you three men there, help me to pick up Charles Bragg and put him on this trolley." Charles Bragg was soon lying on the trolley, but he looked to be close to death. Doctor Schwartz had been a police surgeon earlier in his career; he immediately ensured that any evidence there was, was not destroyed within the possible crime scene.

  "Simon, Joel please go and get some plastic sheeting or some such thing from the stores and seal that room up tight. I am leaving it up to you two men to ensure that nobody enters that room unless Alice or I am here to say that it is ok, is that understood, nothing must be touched or removed from the room. We must ensure that any evidence about what happened in there is kept secure, and is not destroyed by the curious or the guilty, so that when a detective finally arrives to investigate this mystery he can be presented with all of the evidence." Schwartz said to the two colonists.

  "Yes Doctor, we will ensure that nobody messes about with it." Simon Holmes promised.

  Now all the ship was awake and rife with rumours, and all this noise woke Alice Tarraway and brought her along to where all the attention was centred.

  "What on has happened to Charles? and Paul as well, what on earth is going on Doctor."

  Just then, and only for a few moments, Charles Bragg struggled through the chemicals that even now threatened to end his life.

  "Alice, we are near enough to Orion, send for Tyler Burrows."

  This giant effort to battle against the forces of evil sapped whatever strength he had been able to gather and Charles sank back down into unconsciousness.

  Jake now returned with the second trolley and both of the agents were hurried away to the clinic, and whatever aid it could provide to keep both men alive.

  Before leaving to follow his patients, Doctor Schwartz spoke to Alice and told her that the crime scene should be guarded until such time that an investigation could be undertaken.

  "Alice, don`t worry our two families will guard it night and day, no one will mess with whatever evidence it may hold." Simon Holmes and Joel Simons both promised. The events of the night had shocked both men into realising that there was more than met the eye about their two fellow travellers now lying near to death up in the clinic.

  Alice stood there stunned for almost a minute before deciding on what she should do, and having decided on a course of action she started on it straight away.

  "Before you do that you had better come up to the clinic with me to have the doctor check you over, just in case. Maybe you could get your families to stand guard until you get back?"

  Mr McPherson then spoke to Alice and told her about the toxic gas and of the crack in the wall.

  "It might have been a ghastly accident Alice, or it could have been a murderous attempt on those two men`s lives, but why would anyone want them dead, is there something about them that we don`t know?" Alice did not answer McPherson`s question, but instead spoke to the colonists who were still milling around.

  "If any more of you inhaled any of the gas that was released down here you had better come up to the clinic with me now."

  Five men joined Alice as she went up to the clinic, it was not even four o`clock in the morning and she could not foresee the chance of her getting any further sleep that morning, and on top of all that she now had a terrible headache.

  "How are they Doctor, will they be all right?" Alice asked anxiously.

  "They are still unconscious, and all the indications are that they will stay that way for some time, maybe hours, maybe for days, maybe even for a week or more. I don`t even know what caused their condition yet." Schwartz replied sadly, for he already had one dead body, and now there was a good chance of his getting two more.

  "But surely it was that gas that escaped from the broken pipe in the maintenance corridor?" Alice asked just a little baffled by the doctor`s words.

  "No I don`t think so, I have already found out what gas is carried by the damaged pipe, and although it is toxic, if it was the cause then these two men should be a lot nearer to recovering, and as I said they are not."

  "You had better post a guard on the two men Doctor, for if it wasn`t an accident then their lives could still be in danger, no one is to be allowed anywhere near to them, the clinic is off limits to all except you, your wife and myself, is that understood."

  "Don`t worry Alice, someone will be on duty at all times, but surely you are reacting a little strongly by posting the clinic off limits to everyone, how am I to treat any other patients who may come along?"

  "Unless it is a life threatening situation Doctor, you can treat them at their bedside. One person is dead, two more could soon be, and I am not keen to increase our tally of deaths. Oh, but first you had better check these five men over, they all inhaled some of the gas while helping down there. The fact is they may ha
ve saved your patients' lives."

  Alice waited until the five men were given the all clear and had returned to their families before doing anything more. Simon Holmes and Joel Simons were also starting on the task she had requested of them, to guard the crime scene against anyone tampering with it. She then went back to her office and spoke to the ship`s captain, who complained about being woken so early in the morning. His complaining ended when he heard what the cause was.

  "I want you to lock all the areas on the ship that our colonists don`t need entry to, especially the maintenance corridors, we cannot afford any more attacks on our people."

  "I will see that it is done Alice, my men will get on to it first thing in the morning, well it will be the first thing that is done by the day shift anyway."

  Alice left it at that because she didn`t think that there was a chance that there would be any further attempts on the two agents lives during what was left of the early morning hours. Her next decision was that as she was awake why shouldn`t Tom Parkinson also be awake, assuming that the ship was following whatever time zone that Parkinson lived in, and so she put an urgent call into him. Parkinson was asleep in bed when the call came through to him; it had been diverted to him by his office when Alice had demanded to speak with him about a matter of the utmost urgency.

  "What is the problem Miss Tarraway and why couldn`t it wait until a more civilised hour?"

  "Your two agents are near to death in our clinic after what almost certainly seems to be from a determined attempt on their lives." Alice then told Parkinson all that had happened aboard the Constellation over the last twenty-four hours, including Charles Bragg`s demand that Tyler Burrows be summoned.

  "Ok Miss Tarraway, I will call you back after I have thought things through." Tom Parkinson then rang President Michaels and updated him on the situation.

  "Ask for Burrows` help; are you mad, surely there is someone else to turn too?"

  "Normally we would ask the captain of the Constellation to take over but in this case, and with so much else to consider, I think that would be unwise, especially as he will probably be quite unsuited to the task. We could ask the captain of the Defiant to do so, but with the Aldebran space cruiser getting ever nearer to the Constellation that would also be unwise. We can hardly send someone from Earth, it would take too long, and so what other choice do we have?"

  "Ok but ask that Tarraway woman to call him, Burrows would never let a call from a damsel in distress go unanswered. Also, instruct the captain of the Defiant that when Burrows tells the Tarraway women that he will come to her aid that he is to inform him that he has been given the temporary appointment as a special agent working for the Interstellar Investigations Bureau. Oh and you had better ensure that Tarraway knows what all this is about so that she can give Burrows the complete story."

  Tom Parkinson finished off the call with the humour that he, and only he, could get away with.

  "You do realise that all the rumours that Tyler Burrows is a special agent working for you will now be true, Mr President." President Michaels new found constraint was at bursting point as he slammed down the phone. President Michaels then got on to Formby, and yet another person was woken from their sleep, to be told what had happened in deep space and what further action the authorities were planning.

  In deep space, the Aldebran space cruiser was now within long-range sensor vision of the Constellation and appeared to be happy to stay at this distance from her, but it kept silent about its reason for being in this area of space. The Defiant was on the opposite side of the Constellation and had both ships within its superior long-range sensors. It too was silent for the moment, but that moment of silence was about to be shattered.