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"And to return to the normal world, it is simply enough to switch it off?" Eve interrupted.

"Yes, but we will appear in the middle of nowhere. Remember the ‘butterfly’ on the screen in the control room? It is a graphic representation of function Φ. We will come up somewhere within it, most likely, near center. I do not know, how much the picture there corresponds to linear scales but if it corresponds, we will appear, at least, hundreds of light years from Earth. And, probably, in tens–from the nearest star. And if the scale is logarithmic, it is even terrible to imagine, where..."

"In other words, there is no hope to call for help."

"No. And it is also impossible to send a radiogram from the dark phase."

"Linear..." Eve muttered suddenly.

"What?"

"A picture in the control room. If it indeed is linear–at least approximately–and if we were to draw a line through the Sun, Gliese 581 and the screen center, it turns out that the Sun is father from us than Gliese. And if all that happened had occurred on the way back, and we had slipped Earth, it would have been on the contrary."

"That is you want to say that we didn't land in Gliese 581 system?

"Indeed. It is difficult to believe that we landed there, and then continued to fly in the former direction. And the image on the screen–after all, this star there has been emphasized."

"Where then have these wretches come from?"

"I don't know."

Adam kept silent, then again took the skull shard. "Anyhow, they are here. And I should finish the check."

Further picking in the intestines of the dead man, how
ever, did not resulted in any discoveries. Adam found some more pieces of paper, but they were too small and raveled out under his fingers. Apparently this man had torn a part of the list to pieces before swallowing it. Probably a professional criminologist with the appropriate equipment would manage to restore the full text, but it was beyond Adam capabilities. He already felt sick from what he had done, and, above all, from growing perception of hopelessness regarding all their efforts.

Any traces of parasites in the corpse, however, were not found.

"I still think that in the system of Gliese 581 there is life," Adam said, rising. "Otherwise we wouldn't have been sent..."

"Life in the system of Gliese 581 was found out by the probe ‘Hyperion-1,’" suddenly said a calm male voice.

Both Adam and Eve shuddered. Eve darted a wild glance at the dead man.  It seemed to her that it was he who had spoken. But the grinning jaws of the corpse remained motionless, while the voice continued.

"From the seven planets of the system, potentially habit
able are the third, the fourth and the fifth. The orbital scanning by the probe ‘Hyperion-1’ has shown that the average temperature on the surface of the third planet is about 360 degrees Kelvin because of the greenhouse effect, and the quantity of free oxygen in the atmosphere is not enough to support aerobic forms of life. At the same time, the atmospheric composition and radiation level do not exclude the presence of anaerobic forms on the third planet...”

"Who are you?" Eve shouted, raising her head up to a ceiling.

"Easy," Adam answered in a low voice. "The vocal interface of information system somehow activated."

"... remains unclear," continued the voice. "The atmo
spheric composition and practical absence of a magnetic field on the fourth planet make it, most likely, unsuitable for life. No signs of lift were actually revealed. Conditions on the fifth planet are more favorable. The average temperature of the surface is 280 degrees Kelvin (considerably varying during a year because of the high ellipticity of the orbit. However, a year lasts only 67 days, which, together with the considerable mass of the planet and its atmosphere, mitigates temperature fluctuations). A sizable part of the planet is covered by ocean, free from ice in tropic latitudes. The presence in the atmosphere of twenty-six percent oxygen testifies to its biogene origin. Direct proofs of presence of life on the planet were received by landing modules A and B, which found bacterial flora in the water and soil, respectively. Orbital observation allows the assumption of the presence of extensive vegetative tracts on a land of tropical belt and large forms of life in the ocean, though, according to opinion of doctor Nakamura, a possibility of other interpretation of the received data still remains. Further research of both planets with disembarkation on surface is necessary. However, the gravity on the third planet is 2.7 g, and on the fifth is 3.4 g, which hinders human work on the surface. Consequently, though the starship ‘Hyperion-3’ is designed for eleven crewmen, nobody..."

Something clicked and the voice broke off.

"Hyperion-3," Adam loudly and distinctly said. "Information on the ship ‘Hyperion-3.’ Expedition course. Crewmen. Diagnostics. Emergency situations onboard."

But his appeals remained without an answer. The dam
aged system died as unexpectedly as it had begun.

"Damned metal crap." Adam wearily exhaled.

"Yes," Eve responded dead-pan. "Damned. We were damned from the very beginning. Kalkrin, Wong, Nakamura... everybody concerned with this project..."

"Not everybody," Adam objected. "In the listing other scientists were also mentioned. Bernstein, Kozelsky... who else... Miller...

"Probably they are theorists," Eve answered. "They didn't participate directly in the ‘Hyperion’ program."

"And what? What's wrong with this? I don't believe in any mystical nonsense. Though... well, let us assume, neverthe
less, that those landing modules have brought some sort of infection to Earth. Well no, that's nonsense. We wouldn't have been sent anywhere in that case."

"Explain more clearly why our ship is called ‘Hyperion-3,’ when there’s no mention of the second–only about the first probe."

"Well, probably the second was sent to survey another star. Therefore it doesn't relate to the topic."

"I do not think that interstellar expeditions are such a cheap pleasure, nor is life in space such a frequent phenomenon that mankind would stray from this course. If the first probe has found an inhabitable planet, plus also one more where at least an
aerobic life can exist, for certain the subsequent programs would be focused in this direction. And ‘Hyperion-2’ was sent there. Only it hasn't returned."

"And, without having understood the reasons of it, they sent us? As you say, it's a too expensive pleasure."

"Perhaps we were a rescue party. Or it seemed to them that they have found the reason, but it was only a consequence."

"All right." Adam heaved a deep sigh. "Do you have any ideas? Well, other than that all is hopeless?"

"Well, we still didn't complete the exploration of the level where we regained consciousness."

"Okay, let's go." He somehow mopped up his hands on his "skirt" and armed himself again with the bone weapon. He gave the flashlight to Eve, wishing to keep one hand free.

They went downstairs again and walked along a corridor which before had led Adam to Eve's jail. Only now he turned not to the left but to the right.

And almost at once he found himself before a door with a red cross on it.

"The infirmary," he ascertained. "Well, at last. It absolutely slipped my mind that it should be somewhere on the ship. I hope there are antidepressants there. I for sure wouldn't refuse of them." With these words he opened the door.

"Oh m-my..." Eve exhaled, convulsively turning away.

Here light was shining, too, lighting up medically white walls, empty cabinets with open transparent doors and racks with the broken equipment. On a couch along a wall there lay a naked female corpse, decapitated and disemboweled. And in the middle of the room, tied to armchairs, two more bodies sat opposite one another. They were dressed in once blue, but now brown, stiff from blood, overalls (but they had no footwear, only socks). At the left was a man, and at the right a woman. Her gender, however, could be guessed at only based on her figure, for her face was hidden by blood-stained bandages.  More precisely, the remaining part of her face.

"Well, so we have found those who have undressed the pilots," Adam murmured.

"You... do you see, with what they are tied?" Eve squeezed out from herself, trying not to look.

"Yes," Adam calmly answered. "Entrails! But not their own–hers," he nodded towards the couch.

Indeed, no wounds could be seen on the corpse of the sitting ones, at least while they were in clothes. But their heads were sawn practically in half–a rough, inept horizontal cut passing over the eyebrows. The dirty surgical saw by which it had been done lay on the floor between the armchairs. Also, both of the tops of their skulls, still covered with skin and hair, lay nearby. Whoever the unknown fan of trepanations was, he obviously had not taken pains to shave the heads of his "patients." Judging by the blood which covered their faces, they were still alive when it was done to them.

But that was not the most horrifying thing of all. Most likely the one who cut off someone’s skull did not hurt the brain, only bare them–anyway, initially. But here lumps of brain, simil
ar to big dead slugs, were scattered all over the infirmary. And this was not done all at once. The tools used for this purpose were very visible–ordinary tablespoons. One of them stuck out of a skull of the man, as if left in a appalling kettle. The second one lay under his powerlessly hung arm.

"The one who has done this..." Eve began, having first thrown a fast sidelong glance and then having turned away again.

"There was no mysterious murderer," Adam interrupted. "They have done this by themselves."

"What... what are you saying? You mean, tied them
selves, then..."

"Not each one–himself. Each other. Look, their heads are firmly tied to headrests, but their right hands are free."

"There is only one saw," Eve observed, having taken one more look.

"Yes, obviously, they had to saw each other's head in turns. But there were enough spoons to scoop out each other's brains simultaneously. Well, otherwise it wouldn't be possible."

"Do you think," Eve squirmed, "they ate
this
?

"Give me the flashlight."

Adam approached the dead bodies and illuminated the drooping open mouths.

"No," he concluded, "doesn't look like it. They simply tried to destroy each other's brain."

"What for?"

"And for what reason did that guy above beat his head against a wall until his eyes flew out?"

Eve did not answer. She stood, heavily leaning on a door jamb, and again fought against nausea–a nausea from which there was no relief even in vomiting.

"I think, he didn't beat himself against the wall simply because of rage... or pain," Adam, who also felt rather nauseous, continued to reason. His eyes automatically fixated on the ter
rible mess in the open skulls. It was quite apparent, in answer to his own question, that a significant portion of the brain could be missing before one lost the ability to move a hand. But words helped at least somehow to prescind his thinking from the feeling of hopeless horror entangling Adam like layers of a heavy wet rubber sheet which were closing up his nose and mouth, stopping his breathing. "He wanted to destroy his own brain. And tore at it with his fingers after breaking the skull. But to do such with your own head is... not too efficient. With another one it is much easier. That's why these two tried a more thorough approach."

He looked around in search of bloody inscriptions which, probably, could explain at least something. But they did not present themselves. Here there was nothing.

On a sleeve of the dead woman, sitting to the left side of the door, it was still possible to perceive an emblem–a dark blue circle surrounded by a red ring. Along the top part of the ring the inscription "HYPERION" was curved. On the bottom there was a figure "III." In the dark blue circle a hand stretched toward a beam-spreading star. The designer of such an emblem probably considered that the image had come out proud and encouraging. However, it seemed to Adam that this was the hand of one drowning, vainly grasping at air in a last desperate gesture.

On the left breast pocket of her overalls there was one more emblem, but it couldn't be understood under a crust of blood. Adam had distinguished only the large letters ISA and re
membered that it meant "International Space Agency." Lower there was a rectangular stripe with a personal name. Lida... no, apparently, Linda... A surname was not distinguishable at all. He was going to try to clean off the stripe but heard splashing sounds from bare feet behind him.

"Where are you going?" He turned back. There was already no one in the doorway. "Eve! Stop!"

"I... I cannot" came from a corridor. "I cannot be stopped. It seems to me that I'm at the edge of remembering. I am so frightened! Anything, only not this horror! Not to think! Nottothinknottothinknottothink!" Judging by the sounds, she ran like mad along a corridor towards the lift.

"Eve! Come back!" Adam shouted. "You shouldn't wander here alone! You have absolutely no weapon!"

But she probably didn't hear him–or could not conceive words.

"No," Adam thought gloomy, "I won't abandon everything to run after her just because she has womanish hyster
ics. Right now I should exlore everything here."