A Handful of Darkness (3 page)

“Here goes,” Hall said.

He held the spray tightly against him, depressed the trigger, aimed the nozzle slowly around the lab. The Commander and the four guards stood silently behind him. Nothing moved. The sun shone in through the windows, reflecting from the culture dishes and equipment.

After a moment he let the trigger up again.

“I didn’t see anything,” Commander Morrison said. “Are you sure you did anything?”

“Arsine is colourless. But don’t loosen your helmet. It’s fatal. And don’t move.”

They stood waiting.

For a time nothing happened. Then—

“Good God!” Commander Morrison exclaimed.

At the far end of the lab a slide cabinet wavered suddenly. It oozed, buckling and pitching. It lost its shape completely—a homogeneous jelly-like mass perched on top of the table. Abruptly it flowed down the side of the table on to the floor, wobbling as it went.

“Over there! “

A bunsen burner melted and flowed along beside it. All around the room objects were in motion. A great glass retort folded up into itself and settled down into a blob. A rack of test tubes, a shelf of chemicals…

“Look out!” Hall cried, stepping back.

A huge bell jar dropped with a soggy splash in front of him. It was a single large cell, all right. He could dimly make out the nucleus, the cell wall, the hard vacuoles suspended in the cytoplasm.

Pipettes, tongs, a mortar, all were flowing now. Half the equipment in the room was in motion. They had imitated almost everything there was to imitate. For every microscope there was a mimic. For every tube and jar and bottle and flask…

One of the guards had his blaster out. Hall knocked it down. “Don’t fire! Arsine is inflammable. Let’s get out of here. We know what we wanted to know.”

They pushed the laboratory door open quickly and made their way out into the corridor. Hall slammed the door behind them, bolting it tightly.

“It is bad, then?” Commander Morrison asked.

“We haven’t got a chance. The arsine disturbed them; enough of it might even kill them. But we haven’t got that much arsine. And, if we could flood the planet, we wouldn’t be able to use our blasters.”

“Suppose we left the planet.”

“We can’t take the chance of carrying them back to the system.”

“If we stay here we’ll be absorbed, dissolved, one by one,” the Commander protested.

“We could have arsine brought in. Or some other poison that might destroy them. But it would destroy most of the life on the planet along with them. There wouldn’t be much left.”

“Then we’ll have to destroy all life-forms! If there’s no other way of doing it we’ve got to burn the planet clean. Even if there wouldn’t be a thing left but a dead world.”

They looked at each other.

“I’m going to call the System Monitor,” Commander Morrison said. “I’m going to get the unit off here, out of danger—all that are left, at least. That poor girl by the lake…” She shuddered. “After everyone’s out of here, we can work out the best way of cleaning up this planet.”

“You’ll run the risk of carrying one of them back to Terra?”

“Can they imitate us? Can they imitate living creatures? Higher life-forms?”.

“Apparently not. They seem to be limited to inorganic objects.”

The Commander smiled grimly. “Then we’ll go back without any inorganic material.”

“But our clothes! They can imitate belts, gloves, boots—”

“We’re not taking our clothes. We’re going back without anything. And I mean without anything
at all
.”

Hall’s lips twitched. “I see.” He pondered. “It might work. Can you persuade the personnel to—to leave all their things behind? Everything they own?”

“If it means their lives, I can
order
them to do it.”

“Then it might be our one chance of getting away.”

The nearest cruiser large enough to remove the remaining members of the unit was just two hours distance away. It was moving Terra-side again.

Commander Morrison looked up from the vidscreen. “They want to know what’s wrong here.”

“Let me talk.” Hall seated himself before the screen. The heavy features and gold braid of a Terran cruiser captain regarded him. “This is Major Lawrence Hall, from the Research Division of this unit.”

“Captain Daniel Davis.” Captain Davis studied him without expression. “You’re having some kind of trouble, Major?”

Hall licked his lips. “I’d rather not explain until we’re aboard, if you don’t mind.”

““Why not?”

“Captain, you’re going to think we’re crazy enough as it is. We’ll discuss everything fully once we’re aboard.” He hesitated. “We’re going to board your ship naked.”

The Captain raised an eyebrow. “Naked?”

“That’s right.”

“I see.” Obviously he didn’t.

“When will you get here?”

“In about two hours, I’d say.”

“It’s now 13.00 by our schedule. You’ll be here by 15.00?”

“At approximately that time,” the captain agreed.

“We’ll be waiting for you. Don’t let any of your men out. Open one lock for us. We’ll board without any equipment. Just ourselves, nothing else. As soon as we’re aboard, remove the ship at once.”

Stella Morrison leaned towards the screen. “Captain, would it be possible—for your men to—?”

“We’ll land by robot control,” he assured her. “None of my men will be on deck. No one will see you.”

“Thank you,” she murmured.

“Not at all.” Captain Davis saluted. “We’ll see you in about two hours then, Commander.”

“Let’s get everyone out on to the field,” Commander Morrison said. “They should remove their clothes here, I think, so there won’t be any objects on the field to come in contact with the ship.”

Hall looked at her face. “Isn’t it worth it to save our lives?”

Lieutenant Friendly bit his lips. “I won’t do it. I’ll stay here.”

“You have to come.”

“But, Major—”

Hall looked at his watch. “It’s 14.50. The ship will be here any minute. Get your clothes off and get out on the landing field.”

“Can’t I take anything at
all?
”

“Nothing. Not even your blaster… They’ll give us clothes inside the ship. Come on! Your life depends, on this. Everyone else is doing it.”

Friendly tugged at his shirt reluctantly. “Well, I guess I’m acting silly.”

The vidscreen clicked. A robot voice announced shrilly: “Everyone out of the buildings at once! Everyone out of the buildings and on the field without delay! Everyone out of the buildings at once! Everyone—”

“So soon?” Hall ran to the window and lifted the metal blind. “I didn’t hear it land.”

Parked in the centre of the landing field was a long grey cruiser, its hull pitted and dented from meteoric strikes. It lay motionless. There was no sign of life about it.

A crowd of naked people was already moving hesitantly across the field towards it, blinking in the bright sunlight.

“It’s here!” Hall started tearing off his shirt. “Let’s go!”

“Wait for me!”

“Then hurry.” Hall finished undressing. Both men hurried out into the corridor. Unclothed guards raced past them. They padded down the corridors through the long unit building, to the door. They ran downstairs, out on the field. Warm sunlight beat down on them from the sky overhead. From all the unit buildings, naked men and women were pouring silently towards the ship.

“What a sight!” an officer said. “We’ll never be able to live it down.”

“But you’ll live at least,” another said.

“Lawrence!”

Hall half-turned.

“Please don’t look around. Keep on going. I’ll walk behind you.”

“How does it feel, Stella?” Hall asked.

“Unusual.”

“Is it worth it?”

“I suppose so.”

“Do you think anyone will believe us?”

“I doubt it,” she said. “I’m beginning to wonder myself.”

“Anyhow, we’ll get back alive.”

“I guess so.”

Hall looked up at the ramp being lowered from the ship in front of them. The first people were already beginning to scamper up the metal incline, into the ship, through the circular lock.

“Lawrence—”

There was a peculiar tremor in the Commander’s voice. “Lawrence, I’m—”

“You’re what?”

“I’m scared.”

“Scared!” He stopped. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” she quavered.

People pushed against them from all sides. “Forget it. Carry-over from your early childhood.” He put his foot on the bottom of the ramp. “Up we go.”

“I want to go back!” There was panic in her voice. “I—”

Hall laughed. “It’s too late now, Stella.” He mounted the ramp, holding on to the rail. Around him, on all sides, men and women were pushing forward, carrying them up. They came to the lock. “Here we are.”

The man ahead of him disappeared.

Hall went inside after him, into the dark interior of the ship, into the silent blackness before him. The Commander followed.

At exactly 15.00 Captain Daniel Davis landed his ship in the centre of the field. Relays slid the entrance lock open with a bang. Davis and the other officers of the ship sat waiting in the control cabin, around the big control table.

“Well,” Captain Davis said, after a while, “where are they?”

The officers became uneasy. “Maybe something’s wrong.”

“Maybe the whole damn thing’s a joke!”

They waited and waited.

But no one came.

“One of these days I’m going to take time off,” Spence Olham said at first-meal. He looked around at his wife. “I think I’ve earned a rest. Ten years is a long time.”

“And the Project?”

“The war will be won without me. This ball of clay of ours isn’t really in much danger.” Olham sat down at the table and lit a cigarette. “The newsmachines alter dispatches to make it appear the Outspacers are right on top of us. You know what I’d like to do on my vacation? I’d like to take a camping trip in those mountains outside of town, where we went that time. Remember? I got poison oak and you almost stepped on a gopher snake.”

“Sutton Wood?” Mary began to clear away the food dishes. “The Wood was burned a few weeks ago. I thought you knew. Some kind of a flash fire.”

Olham sagged. “Didn’t they even try to find the cause?” His lips twisted. “No one cares any more. All they can think of is the war.” He clamped his jaws together, the whole picture coming up in his mind, the Outspacers, the war, the needle-ships.

“How can we think about anything else?”

Olham nodded. She was right, of course. The dark little ships out of Alpha Centauri had by-passed the Earth cruisers easily, leaving them like helpless turtles. It had been one-way fights, all the way back to Terra.

All the way, until the protec-bubble was demonstrated by Westinghouse Labs. Thrown around the major Earth cities and finally the planet itself, the bubble was the first real defence, the first legitimate answer to the Outspacers—as the newsmachines labelled them.

But to win the war, that was another thing. Every lab, every project was working night and day, endlessly, to find something more: a weapon for positive combat. His own project, for example. All day long, year after year.

Olham stood up, putting out his cigarette. “Like the Sword of Damocles. Always hanging over us. I’m getting tired. All I want to do is take a long rest. But I guess everybody feels that way.”

He got his jacket from the closet and went out on the front porch. The shoot would be along any moment, the fast little bug that would carry him to the Project.

“I hope Nelson isn’t late.” He looked at his watch. “It’s almost seven.”

“Here the bug comes,” Mary said, gazing between the rows of houses. The sun glittered behind the roofs, reflecting against the heavy lead plates. The settlement was quiet; only a few people Were stirring. “I’ll see you later. Try not to work beyond your shift, Spence.”

Olham opened the car door and slid inside, leaning back against the seat with a sigh. There was an older man with Nelson.

“Well?” Olham said, as the bug shot ahead. “Heard any interesting news?”

“The usual,” Nelson said. “A few Outspace ships hit, another asteroid abandoned for strategic reasons.”

“It’ll be good when we get the Project into final stage. Maybe it’s just the propaganda from the newsmachines, but in the last month I’ve gotten weary of all this. Everything seems so grim and serious, no colour to life.”

“Do you think the war is in vain?” the older man said suddenly. “You are an integral part of it, yourself.”

“This is Major Peters,” Nelson said. Olham and Peters shook hands. Olham studied the older man.

“What brings you along so early?” he said. “I don’t remember seeing you at the Project before.”

“No, I’m not with the Project,” Peters said, “but I know something about what you’re doing. My own work is altogether different.”

A look passed between him and Nelson. Olham noticed it and he frowned. The bug was gaining speed, flashing across “the barren, lifeless ground towards the distant rim of the Project buildings.

“What is your business?” Olham said. “Or aren’t you permitted to talk about it?”

“I’m with the government,” Peters said. “With FSA, the Security Organ.”

“Oh?” Olham raised an eyebrow. “Is there any enemy infiltration in this region?”

“As a matter of fact I’m here to see you, Mr. Olham.”

Olham was puzzled. He considered Peters” words, but he could make nothing of them. “To see me? Why?”

“I’m here to arrest you as an Outspace spy. That’s why I’m up so early this morning.
Grab him, Nelson
—”

The gun drove into Olham’s ribs. Nelson’s hands were shaking, trembling with released emotion, his face pale. He took a deep breath and let it out again.

“Shall we kill him now?” he whispered to Peters. “I think we should kill him now. We can’t wait.”

Olham stared into his friend’s face. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. Both men were staring at him steadily, rigid and grim with fright. Olham felt dizzy. His head ached and spun.

“I don’t understand,” he murmured.

At that moment the shoot car left the ground and rushed up, heading into space. Below them the Project fell away, smaller and smaller, disappearing. Olham shut his mouth.

“We can wait a little,” Peters said. “I want to ask him some questions, first.”

Olham gazed dully ahead as the bug rushed through space.

“The arrest was made all right,” Peters said into the vidscreen. On the screen the features of the Security chief showed. “It should be a load off everyone’s mind.”

“Any complications?”

“None. He entered the bug without suspicion. He didn’t seem to think my presence was too unusual.”

“Where are you now?”

“On our way out, just inside the protec-bubble. We’re moving at maximum speed. You can assume that the critical period is past. I’m glad the take-off jets in this craft were in good working order. If there had been any failure at that point—”

“Let me see him,” the Security chief said. He gazed directly at Olham where he sat, his hands in his lap, staring ahead.

“So that’s the man.” He looked at Olham for a time. Olham said nothing. At last the chief nodded to Peters. “All right. That’s enough.” A faint trace of disgust wrinkled his features. “I’ve seen all I want. You’ve done something that will be remembered for a long time. They’re preparing some sort of citation for both of you.”

“That’s not necessary,” Peters said.

“How much danger is there now? Is there still much chance that—”

“There is some chance, but not too much. According to my understanding, it requires a verbal key phrase. In any case we’ll have to take the risk.”

“I’ll have the Moon base notified you’re coming.”

“No.” Peters shook his head. “I’ll land the ship outside, beyond the base. I don’t want it in jeopardy.”

“Just as you like.” The chief’s eyes flickered as he glanced again at Olham. Then his image faded. The screen blanked.

Olham shifted his gaze to the window. The ship was already through the pro tee-bubble, rushing with greater and greater speed all the time. Peters was in a hurry; below him, rumbling under the floor, the jets were wide open. They were afraid, hurrying frantically, because of him.

Next to him on the seat Nelson shifted uneasily. “I think we should do it now,” he said. “I’d give anything if we could get it over with.”

“Take it easy,” Peters said. “I want you to guide the ship for a while so I can talk to him.”

He slid over beside Olham, looking into his face. Presently he reached out and touched him gingerly, on the arm and then on the cheek.

Olham said nothing. “If I could let Mary know,” he thought again. “If I could find some way of letting her know.” He looked around the ship. How? The vidscreen? Nelson was sitting by the board, holding the gun. There was nothing he could do. He was caught, trapped.

But why?

“Listen,” Peters said, “I want to ask you some questions. You know where we’re going. We’re moving Moonward. In an hour we’ll land on the far side, on the desolate side. After we land you’ll be turned over immediately to a team of men waiting there. Your body will be destroyed at once. Do you understand that?” He looked at his watch. “Within two hours your parts will be strewn over the landscape. There won’t be anything left of you.”

Olham struggled out of his lethargy. “Can’t you tell me—”

“Certainly, I’ll tell you.” Peters nodded. “Two days ago we received a report that an Outspace ship had penetrated the protec-bubble. The ship let off a spy in the form of a humanoid robot. The robot was to destroy a particular human being and take his place.”

Peters looked calmly at Olham.

“Inside the robot was a U-Bomb. Our agent did not know how the bomb was to be detonated, but he conjectured that it might be a particular spoken phrase, a certain group of words. The robot would live the life of the person he killed, entering into his usual activities, his job, his social life. He had been constructed to resemble that person. No one would know the difference.”

Olham’s face went sickly chalk.

“The person whom the robot was to impersonate was Spence Olham, a high-ranking official at one of the Research projects. Because this particular project was approaching crucial stage, the presence of an animate bomb, moving towards the centre of the Project—”

Olham stared down at his hands. “
But I’m Olham!
”

“Once the robot had located and killed Olham, it was a simple matter to take over his life. The robot was probably released from the ship eight days ago. The substitution was probably accomplished over the last week-end, when Olham went for a short walk in the hills.”

“But I’m Olham.” He turned to Nelson, sitting at the controls. “Don’t you recognize me? You’ve known me for twenty years. Don’t you remember how we went to college together?” He stood up. “You and I were at the University. We had the same room.” He went towards Nelson.

“Stay away from me!” Nelson snarled.

“Listen. Remember our second year? Remember that girl? What was her name—” He rubbed his forehead. “The one with the dark hair. The one we met over at Ted’s place?”

“Stop!” Nelson waved the gun frantically. “I don’t want to hear any more. You killed him! You… machine.”

Olham looked at Nelson. “You’re wrong. I don’t know what happened, but the robot never reached me. Something must have gone wrong. Maybe the ship crashed.” He turned to Peters. “I’m Olham. I know it. No transfer was made. I’m the same as I’ve always been.”

He touched himself, running his hands over his body. “There must be some way to prove it. Take me back to earth. An X-ray examination, a neurological study, anything like that will show you. Or maybe we can find the crashed ship.”

Neither Peters nor Nelson spoke.

“I am Olham,” he said again. “I know I am. But I can’t prove it.”

“The robot,” Peters said, “would be unaware that he was not the real Spence Olham. He would become Olham in mind as well as the body. He was given an artificial memory system, false recall. He would look like him, have his memories, his thoughts and interests, perform his job.

“But there would be one difference. Inside the robot is a U-Bomb ready to explode at the trigger phrase.” Peters moved a little away. “That’s the one difference. That’s why we’re taking you to the Moon. They’ll disassemble you and remove the bomb. Maybe it will explode, but it won’t matter there.”

Olham sat down slowly.

“We’ll be there soon,” Nelson said.

He lay back, thinking frantically, as the ship dropped slowly down. Under them was the pitted surface of the Moon, the endless expanse of ruin. What could he do? What would save him?

“Get ready,” Peters said.

In a few minutes he would be dead. Down below he could see a tiny dot, a building of some kind. There were men in the building, the demolition team, waiting to tear him to bits. They would rip him open, pull off his arms and legs, break him apart. When they found no bomb they would be surprised; they would know but it would be too late.

Olham looked around the small cabin. Nelson was still holding the gun. There was no chance there. If he could get a doctor, have an examination made—that was the only way. Mary could help him. He thought frantically, his mind racing. Only a few minutes, just a little time left. If he could contact her, get word to her some way.

“Easy,” Peters said. The ship came down slowly, bumping on the rough ground. There was silence.

“Listen,” Olham said thickly. “I can prove I’m Spence Olham. Get a doctor. Bring him here—”

“There’s the squad.” Nelson pointed. “They’re coming.” He glanced nervously at Olham. “I hope nothing happens.”

“We’ll be gone before they start work,” Peters said. “We’ll be out of here in a moment.” He put on his pressure suit. When he had finished he took the gun from Nelson. “I’ll watch him for a moment.”

Nelson put on his pressure suit, hurrying awkwardly. “How about him?” He indicated Olham. “Will he need one?”

“No.” Peters shook his head. “Robots probably don’t require oxygen.”

The group of men were almost to the ship. They halted, waiting. Peters signalled to them.

“Come on!” He waved his hand and the men approached warily; stiff, grotesque figures in their inflated suits.

“If you open the door,” Olham said, “it means my death. It will be murder.”

“Open the door,” Nelson said. He reached for the handle.

Olham watched him. He saw the man’s hand tighten around the metal rod. In a moment the door would swing back, the air in the ship would rush out. He would die, and presently they would realize their mistake. Perhaps at some other time, when there was no war, men might not act this way, hurrying an individual to his death because they were afraid. Everyone was frightened, everyone was willing to sacrifice the individual because of the group fear.

He was being killed because they could not wait to be sure of his guilt. There was not enough time.

He looked at Nelson. Nelson had been his friend for years. They had gone to school together. He had been best man at his wedding. Now Nelson was going to kill him. But Nelson was not wicked; it was not his fault. It was the times. Perhaps it had been the same way during the plagues. When men had shown a spot they probably had been killed, too, without a moment’s hesitation, without proof, on suspicion alone. In times of danger there was no other way.

He did not blame them. But he had to live. His life was too precious to be sacrificed. Olham thought quickly. What could he do? Was there anything? He looked around.