by Fay Symes

Lee Crane propped himself elegantly on the corner of the Admiral Nelson's desk, one long leg stretched out before him.  He was laughing softly at the story the Admiral had been relating. "Admiral, I really can't believe that a few electric jolts and a small injection of irradiated seawater could have turned a simple cuttlefish into a ravaging monster."

Nelson had long since grown accustomed to the captain's habit of lounging on his desk.  After once annoying him, he now found it a mark of pleasant familiarity indicating that the atmosphere on Seaview was entirely calm with no dire emergencies requiring his attention.  He relaxed and prepared to elaborate on his amusing fabrication, which was in fact no more implausible than some of the real events they had encountered.

"My dear Captain, if you would kindly remove yourself from my desk and sit on a chair like anyone else, I will endeavour to explain."  He stopped abruptly as a strange shimmer caught his eye in the corner of the cabin.  Then a sudden loud pop made his ears ring. 

Before either of them could draw another breath, the shimmer turned into a large circle of light and out of it stepped a man.  The circle popped again and vanished, leaving them staring incredulously at a small, dapper man, who greeted them with a bright smile.

"Good morning, gentlemen."

"Mister Pem!"  Nelson's voice cracked with astonishment as he jumped to his feet.  "You can't be, you're dead!"

Pem chuckled, patting the front of his black waistcoat.  He was wearing what appeared to be the same grey suit and colourful cravat, as if no time had passed since the moment, months ago, when he had been burned to a cinder before their eyes. 

"Well, as you can see, I am in fact quite solid and alive.  There are certain, ah, illusions created by travel through time that allow me to precede myself, as it were, and avoid certain calamities.  It is good to see you, Admiral, Captain.  I have a little problem I thought you might like to help me with."

"Most certainly not!"  Nelson said immediately.  "I don't know how you have the audacity to appear here again after the havoc you caused on my boat."

Mr Pem tutted and shook his head.  "Ah, well, I did consider you might have some reservations, so I took the liberty of making my invitation a little more formal.  Captain Crane, if you wouldn't mind joining us over here?"

Lee had stepped back warily, remembering full well how the little man had inveigled them into his plans in the past.  He glanced at the Admiral and moved to his side, more as a gesture of support or protection than in response to Pem's request.

It was a mistake.  A bright light flared around him and he felt a strange, twisting, wrenching sensation that lasted only a brief moment, then he was tumbling headlong onto hard ground.

Lee scrambled to his feet, rubbing a bruised elbow, and found Nelson picking himself up nearby.  They were in a dimly-lit rocky cavern, with a passage leading out to one side that emitted a brighter light.  A smell of ozone lingered in the chilly air.

"What the devil's this?"  Nelson growled.

"Pardon the liberty, gentlemen," Mr Pem said brightly, keeping well out of arm's length.  Now if you would kindly stay where you are for a moment, I will explain."

They had no choice.  Both men's attempt to rush at Pem was halted by a barrier of some invisible force, which felt like India-rubber and gave only a little at the pressure they exerted.

"This is absolutely preposterous!"  Nelson stormed.  "Let us out of here!  We have no intention whatsoever is assisting you in any of your schemes."

"Well, as you have no choice but to listen to me, I suggest you do so quietly, and the sooner this is all over the sooner you can be back aboard your delightful submarine, can't you?"  Pem's apparently benevolent smile disguised an obvious strength of purpose and determination.

"We shall be missed, you know," Crane said angrily. 

"In fact, you will not.  I have arranged that however long you spend with me, no more than one second will have passed on Seaview.  Which means that you may give me your whole attention without the slightest worry for your men or your boat.  And even if you were to stay here until you were a hundred, not one man aboard would miss you for a moment."

"Very comforting, I'm sure," Nelson said dryly.  "Well, man, get on with it.  For a start, where are we?"

"An underground laboratory in a secret location on the far side of the world.  Friends of mine have been working here for many years, on a theory which presented itself quite by accident, as a result of my, er, time-travelling ability.  Might I rely on your co-operation for a short time so that I might introduce you to them and show you our work?  I can release you from the force field immediately if you agree not to do anything rash.  I am only asking for a few hours of your time, which cannot be missed, and this will progress much more swiftly if I have your co-operation."

"Oh, very well," Nelson told him.  "I've already told you to get on with it, so let's see an end to this."

It was not apparent what Mr Pem did to deactivate the force field, but they found themselves once more able to move.

"I see you're no longer using your watch," the Admiral remarked.  "Did we finally manage to destroy the damn thing?"

"It was of no consequence.  I have a far more powerful machine at my disposal now.  One of its minor effects is to enable simple transference with no portable paraphernalia.  As you will observe, if you please come this way."

They followed the little man along a well-lit passage and into a vast cavern hollowed out of the rock, packed with computer banks, terminals and an array of unfamiliar equipment.  Nelson felt an immediate stirring of interest, curiosity far outweighing his former annoyance.

"And what exactly do you do here?"

"We are determining the existence of multi-dimensional space."

"In what sense?"

"Our device opens a portal between the phases of alternate quantum universes."

That sounded like double-Dutch to Lee, but Nelson seemed to grasp the concept immediately.

"Into other real physical dimensions?"

"Exactly," Pem nodded.

"Well, I must say that's very interesting, assuming of course that it's true."

"I think I can prove that to your satisfaction," Mr Pem said with some smugness.  "Mr Roderick here will be happy to explain."

He introduced Crane and the Admiral to his four colleagues, all elderly men, who seemed unsurprised by their visitors.  All except Roderick turned back to their consoles. 

Mr Roderick was short and bald, sporting a long white beard that he wore tucked inside his black shirt.  "It's all been very unfortunate, Admiral," he began.  "You see, we sent two men through and now we can't contact them, they haven't sent us any communication since the second conjunction."

"How long ago did they leave?"  Nelson asked.

"Six days and four hours."

"And where exactly are they?"

"Ah, well, has Mr Pem explained?"

"Not sufficiently, by any means."

"With the power Pem has generated by methods that are not easily explainable if you are not an engineer of quantum physics, we can peel back a membrane between here and our closest neighbouring universe.  The junction appears in the form of a lens, a hole large enough to admit a man and whatever he can carry, but not large enough to admit a vehicle.  It is also possible to maintain the link for only ninety-seven seconds at a time.  After this duration, the link collapses and we have to rebuild capacity to re-open it.  We are able to open the link only once every eight hours.  It is a very complex and power-hungry process."

"And what, precisely, is on the other side?" Nelson asked.

"A landscape very similar to our own.  It has an oxygen atmosphere, slightly richer than ours but with no toxic substances that could be determined.  Gravity is ten percent less than the Earth and the sun is a little more red in spectrum."  Roderick waved a hand vaguely.  "I am explaining in simple terms, of course.  You may access our full data.  We sent through a man with test equipment, and eight hours later he returned unharmed.  We then sent through two men, who were to explore and gather more data.  They were at the lens to pass through data at the next conjunction, and said they were perfectly well.  When the lens next opened, they were not in sight and we have not seen them again.  We have no more able-bodied men capable of risking another excursion or mounting a search.  Pem promised to find us assistance."

"I'll bet he did," Lee said, looking round to find the little man at his side.  "So I assume you want us to go in there and find out what's happened to them?"

"Perceptive, as usual, Captain," Pem said dryly.

"Why us?"

"Well, as you can see, the remainder of my colleagues are not exactly in the first flush of youth, in fact one might say they are in the sunset of their lives.  I myself, I really am getting on now, my heart's not what it used to be since my last efforts to escape an untimely demise, and I know how brave and resourceful you two gentlemen are ˜ you've proven it to me on two previous occasions."

"You mean you're afraid to do it yourself," Crane said bluntly.

"Always so pragmatic, Captain.  It would not matter how much my colleagues or I wished to adventure, the fact is that we cannot allow anyone else to enter the portal because there would not be enough of us to operate the controls.  It takes a great deal of skill."

"And you really expect us to help you?"

"Well now, I don't think you have a lot of choices open to you, gentlemen, if you wish to see your submarine and your men again."  Mr Pem renewed his smug expression.  "And I know how honourable you are when it comes to saving lives.  Professor Manderson and Doctor Dennie are good men, highly trained scientists.  You may be able to save them from some terrible predicament.  We can give you arms, equipment, whatever you think you need.  Our initial investigations showed a perfectly safe and uninhabited environment, so we have no idea what may have transpired.  They may have met with some simple accident, a fall, and be unable to return unaided."

Nelson inclined his head to invite Lee to accompany him out of earshot, and the two men stood together near the farthest wall.

Lee looked at him helplessly.  "Admiral, what are we going to do?"

"We don't seem to have many choices, do we? 

"You don't mean you're going to help him?"

"And you mean to say the situation doesn't pique your curiosity?"

"Damn it, it obviously does yours!  I know that look in your eyes, you're all on fire."

"How can I deny it!  You are far too perceptive."  Nelson's eyes did hold a bright and wicked gleam.

Lee had to bite back a laugh.  "Do you really want us to go through some weird portal to an alternate world and do Pem's damn exploring for him?"

"For myself, Lee, I have to admit that it does hold a certain appeal for my scientific curiosity.  We could of course stand fast and refuse, and probably in time he'd give up and send us back home.  But what would that achieve?  Two men are lost out there somewhere and his colleagues can't help anyone, they look a hundred years older than God.  And wouldn't you always wonder what we might have discovered?  I know you too well, Captain, you can't fool me."

A little smile quirked the corner of Crane's lips.  "I guess it might be interesting at that, and if nobody's going to miss us . . . ?"

"That's the spirit, Lee!"

Pem was watching them, smiling.  He obviously had never doubted their answer.

After only ten minutes of listening Pem and his colleagues explain the quantum theory of folding space into seven dimensions to allow a portal to open, Lee closed his eyes and tried not to hear any more for fear his brain would implode and leak out through his ears.  The Admiral, however, was agog, and made all the seemingly correct responses at decent intervals, understanding — or appearing to understand — every word. 

"Amazing," he kept muttering.  "Yes, yes, of course!  I knew that must be right, I've always believed in the quantum multiverse but I had no way of proving it.  Pem, you've worked a miracle.  Think of how the scientific world will receive this!"

"I'm not sure your scientific world would understand it, Admiral," Pem said.  "And if they did, I'm even less certain they would use the knowledge wisely or for the good of mankind.  I have acted unwisely myself in the past, and in the future, and I have no illusions about the motives and greed of other men.  This laboratory is not in your time period, it is in a future where no one can trace us.  And in their future, such a device did not exist.  Which leads me to believe that there may be some fatal flaw we have not yet discovered."  He sighed.  "However, the problem of our missing men is the priority now.  All else must come later."

"But your power source?" Nelson queried.  "Surely this experiment should use vast, almost incalculable, amounts of power?"

"In this future they have also harnessed unlimited power.  A few ounces of matter I might hold in my hand can produce all we need to warp the fabric of time and space."

"But how?  Good God, man, that secret should be given to the time we come from to solve all the world's problems!"

"That cannot be done.  Believe me, Admiral, tampering with the natural flow of events would cause such a catastrophe you cannot imagine.  Please put the idea from your mind.  Now, are you still prepared to help us?"

"Yes, of course.  We gave our word."  Nelson turned and nodded to Lee.  "Let's get on with it."

"What about equipment?"

"We have made preparations," Pem said at once.  "Please follow me to our store rooms.  You have plenty of time to prepare yourselves.  My little jaunt to your time did not utilise much power, but the next conjunction to the other side cannot be made for another four and a half hours."

Through the small complex of living and sleeping quarters, Pem did indeed have a very comprehensive collection of basic necessities he had obviously acquired for the purpose: handguns, rifles, backpacks with survival equipment, food and water, basic navigation instruments and an array of test equipment, some of which was totally unfamiliar to the Admiral.

"You certainly are well prepared," Nelson said, picking up a nicely made and well-oiled rifle.  "I take it you weren't expecting to use all this for your own explorers?"

"Some of this has been hastily assembled since our men went missing.  Of course, if you had refused I should have been forced to find someone else.  It is easy enough to find explorers in many eras, but not so easy to find men with your experience of the unknown.  You are unique."

Nelson chuckled softly.  "It seems we have our uses, Lee, even when one has the whole of Time as a plaything."

Lee scowled as Pem handed Nelson a small instrument with glowing coloured lights. "This will give you a wide range of information.  Atmospheric composition, radiation count, gravity, electrical interference, magnetism, anything that might affect the human metabolism.  Manderson and Dennie had one and reported no contra-indications."  He picked up another, even smaller device, the size of a cigarette packet with a glowing screen.  "This other is a medical scanning device, which gives a full range of physical readings.  The on-screen instructions are very simple to follow."

"Remarkable!"  Nelson examined it closely.  "Wherever did you get this?"

"I would rather not say, and when you return I shall have to take it back; it belongs to a different time."

Nelson sighed.  "I wish I could live a thousand years longer to see inventions like this."

"Do you wish to rest before the portal opens?"

"I would rather learn as much as I can about what lies on the other side."

"We have sufficient data to tell you everything you need to know."

With all their equipment assembled ready by the exit point, Crane and Nelson joined Pem and his colleagues for a detailed briefing.

When the way to open an interface had first been discovered, they could only speculate that a true alternate dimension would lie on the other side.  The first sight of it was an astounding confirmation of the team's long and complex calculations.  At first they had only watched, spellbound, as the vortex steadied to a window opening onto a whole new world.  At the second conjunction, they inserted a camera tied to a pole, which transmitted the first amazing, if wobbly, pictures from the actual other world.  This was followed by instruments, taking careful and detailed readings of the atmosphere and every possible condition, in the hope that it would be safe for men to enter.  It had taken many weeks to reach the point where they had jointly decided to send their two most able-bodied scientists to the other side, with Professor Manderson and Doctor Dennie only too eager to volunteer.  In fact it had been hard stopping them from leaping through weeks before.

Nelson was utterly fascinated as the details unfolded, and despite his reservations, Lee felt a thrill to be looking at pictures of a truly unknown and unexplored world he had never imagined could exist.

After a number of packages containing supplies and equipment were swiftly tossed through the open portal, the two men followed.  Professor Manderson, a sixtyish man with greying hair, turned to wave a hand, then he and his younger companion stood still while the portal closed with a slapping sound, like a heavy wave lashing rocks.

The next recording was eight hours later, when the portal opened again to reveal both men beaming and waving, throwing through recorded data, boxes of samples, and shouting that they were well.  They were happy to continue exploring what seemed to be a completely uninhabited area, populated only by plants and small insect life.  All their readings reassured them that the atmosphere was healthy and they were suffering no ill effects.

Then the portal closed again, and on each subsequent aperture, the two men had not reappeared.

Pem sighed.  "That is all we can tell you, Admiral.  I can only wish you luck."

"That's all we need.  We will do our very best to find your men, you may rely on that."

"Thank you, Admiral.  And you, Captain."

"You can save the thanks until we come back."  Lee was not too easily fooled by the little man's apparent regret and docility.  One final favour was never really going to be the last one.  Pem had too many tricks in his repertoire.

While the countdown to the next portal opening continued, they stacked equipment by the exit point and made their farewells to Pem's colleagues, who became increasingly occupied with their banks of monitors and complicated calculations.  Time seemed to race faster as the large digital clock above the consoles ticked inexorably towards the designated hour, while a low vibration began to seep through the whole complex, seemingly emanating from somewhere below their feet.

"You can feel our power," Pem muttered, busy watching dials spin through sequences of numbers.  "One ounce of matter provides sufficient energy to fuel an entire country."

Before Nelson could repeat his annoyance that they would be better occupied trying to provide that secret to the power-drained, starving world of earlier times, the portal sprang open.  A shimmering round aperture seven feet in diameter hung before them, barely touching the floor, through which could be seen the landscape they had watched in the recordings.

There was no time to hesitate, let alone admire the phenomenon; they had barely more than a minute in which to act.  Throwing through the packed instruments and survival gear at high speed, Crane and Nelson followed their equipment and stepped through into another world.

"Wait in the near vicinity for our next conjunction," Pem called.  "We shall be ready to offer any necessary assistance.  Good luck!"

As they looked back at the little man silhouetted behind a shimmering veil the contact ended, and the portal closed with as slap of unnerving finality.  The link to their own world was gone.

Lee looked around, experiencing a moment of unreality.  There was nothing to be seen but a vista of dark, greenish-purple grass or moss, tumbled rocks and a few sparse, spiky bushes.  Farther away loomed a rounded cliff face of reddish rock and there was a succession of hills or cliffs in the distance.  It appeared to be near twilight, the scene illuminated by a faintly reddish glow.

"Good heavens," Nelson murmured.  "This is so incredible.  Look, Lee, a world no man has ever seen, other than the two who went before us."

"Yes, I'm looking, but I'm having trouble getting my head around the fact that this is a different universe.  Are you sure?  Shouldn't it look more — different?"

Nelson studied the instrument in his hand.  "Pem's gadget is telling me that gravity is ten percent less than Earth, the atmosphere has more oxygen and a somewhat different mix of other gasses, and I think if your turn around and look up you'll see your proof."

"Oh, my . . !"  Lee's sudden light-headedness not solely attributable to the differences in gravity and oxygen.  Above them hung a large, red sun, far larger and redder than anything seen from Earth.  And farther away in the mauvish-blue sky that shaded to violet on the horizon were the faint daytime ghosts of two moons.  One of them wore a halo of rings.

Nelson was smiling broadly.  "Wonderful!  My word, I'm glad I've lived long enough to see this."

"Perhaps we should hope we live long enough to get back home again," Lee said dryly, still struggling a little to believe in the reality of their location.

"I'm sure we will.  If Pem can do this, he can certainly open the portal again.  And we have a job to do."

The Captain turned around slowly, trying to become accustomed to the strangeness of the place.  There was almost a feeling of static electricity, a faint tingle he could not properly define.  Something about the air was different, too.  Lee became aware of the air moving against his face, sliding over his skin like a piece of silk, soft and yet slightly rough at the same time, as if it was dragging reluctantly against his pores.  It was not a bad sensation, but neither was it right.  Everything about the feel of the place was — not exactly wrong but —different.\Months later, after everything they had been through, this was the one moment that would sometimes come back to haunt him.  When Lee stood on Seaview's conning tower and felt the wind from the East against his face, he would shiver and experience the sensation of that one moment of total alienness.

They collected what equipment they would need for an initial, cursory reconnoitre; small backpacks with essential survival gear, rope and flashlights, and a pistol each with extra ammunition.  The Admiral took charge of Pem's two diagnostic instruments, keeping the medical scanner in his pocket while making continual checks with the environmental diagnostic.

They checked their watches, setting the secondary dials to mission-elapsed time and agreeing to return to the portal location with at least one hour to spare.  Then they began to study the surrounding area, looking initially for any signs of the two lost men.

There was a slightly bitter tang to the taste of the air, and although the sun looked hot, it shed no warmth, only a reddish glow that made the world look as though it was viewed through a pink filter.  It deepened the tan of their skins and turned Nelson's light auburn hair into deep terracotta, while Lee's sleek black head took on a sheen of plum.  The slight reduction in gravity made their steps feel a little bouncier than at home, but as the two men concentrated on the purpose of their exploration, the small differences soon became unnoticeable. 

A small stack of unused equipment and a tightly packed tent that had never been used were the only indications that anyone had been there before them.  The ground showed no sign of footprints to indicate which way they might have walked, and there was no sight or sound of any form of life; no animals, no birds — and no men.

Nelson scratched at the mossy grass, revealing tightly packed black soil, but saw no insects.

"Which way do you think they went?"  Lee asked.

"No idea.  I suggest we follow our instincts and imagine we are in their shoes, looking for anything of interest.  First let's get to the highest point."

Nelson led the way towards higher ground, from which they viewed a shallow sloping valley filled with boulders, at the foot of which began a rising series of hills that stretched far away to the horizon.  Apart from the relatively flat and open area where the portal had opened, most of the terrain seemed composed of bare, dark, reddish rock, interspersed with a few scrubby bush-like plants bearing thick spiky leaves.  On closer examination, they bore little resemblance to leaves, more resembling succulents with hard, shiny purple growths.

For a moment they looked around in all directions, alert for any movement, then Nelson cupped his hands and began to shout the missing scientists' names.

His voice echoed away into the distance and returned only silence.  Nothing moved.

Then something caught Lee's attention in the ruddy shadows of the hills away to their left.  Something flickered.  He shaded his eyes, wondering if the sun was reflecting off metal or it was merely a trick of the light.

"Did you see that?  I saw something flash, a red light."

"I saw nothing.  Where, exactly?"

"Over there, at the foot of the cliff."

"We may as well take that direction."  Nelson checked his watch and let Lee take the lead.  A few moments later, he caught a glimpse of something himself, a semi-transparent red wisp in the air, and then it was gone.

"I saw something then," he said, "but it's most likely to be some natural reflection of this sunlight."

The valley slope was not steep and another hundred yards brought them to the base of the nearest cliff face.  They examined it with interest.  Although from a distance the rock had appeared heavy and solid, close up it was made of no earthly material.  The rock had been formed by some volcanic or unknown action that made the whole fabric a fine honeycomb, some areas covered with large holes like blown bubbles, but for the most part resembling reddish-brown solidified foam.

Nelson extracted a small geologist's hammer from his pack and tapped it lightly, then harder, but although the rock looked fragile, it took all his strength to chip off a few flakes.  Each time he struck it harder, red sparks flew.

"Amazing," he murmured.  "It's as hard as granite and yet it looks as if you could punch a fist through it.  I've never seen the like before."

"Admiral, it's very interesting but we're not here to admire the scenery.  Do you want to split up and each search in a different direction?"

"No, I don‘t think that would be wise.  We should stay together.  Much as I would like to make a detailed study of the area you're right, we have a job to do.  Lead on.  To your left there seems a natural path at the base of these cliffs.  Pem's men may have come this way."  Nelson put away his hammer and followed Lee along the cliff face, pausing occasionally to look into holes, though none were large enough to have concealed a man.

Then Lee stopped suddenly with an exclamation.  "Hey!  Look at that!"  

Rounding a protrusion of rock they came to a great archway, rounded as if one of the bubbles had expanded to giant size, and behind it lay a darkness that indicated a deep cavern.  It was the first of a series of such openings that continued for several hundred yards into the distance, the whole cliff face before them punctuated by similar cave openings.

They extracted powerful flashlights from their packs and shone them inside the first entrance.  Even though their lights were powerful, the beams could find no back wall, only what appeared to be a tunnel leading away into the rock.

"They have to have come in here," Lee said.  "They must have had an accident.  Somewhere the rock is thin and they fell through, or they became trapped."  He stepped a few paces inside and raised his voice.  "Professor Manderson, Doctor Dennie, can anyone hear me?"

He thought he saw another flicker of red light, but when he moved his flashlight, it was gone.

"We must be cautious," Nelson said.  "If the ground is treacherous we must avoid compromising ourselves.  Fortunately we have very good lights and at least some forewarning that it may not be as safe as it looks."

"And we're armed," Lee added.

"I don't think we're going to need weapons.  Only our common sense."

Lee directed his flashlight above them at the vaulted ceiling.  "It's like being inside a giant bubble.  Do you think that's likely to fall?"

"It all seems made of similar rock, extremely hard.  It would take an earthquake to bring down that roof.  I don't know how this material formed, but surely only the lighter gravity here could have made it possible." 

Slowly, testing the ground as they went, they walked across a fairly smooth and even floor towards the tunnel-like opening.  It was well above Lee's head and they had no difficulty entering what became a series of linked, smaller caves, leading further inside the cliffs. 

Nelson had to force himself not to stop and examine every detail, fascinated by the substance and formation of the rock.  "It's still bubbles," he told Lee, tapping with the base of his flashlight where a few yellow streaks broke up the uniform rust colour.  "It's as if the whole cliff was extruded as giant bubbles and some force, some gas perhaps, surged through here before the rock cooled to make a tunnel through them.  It really is quite remarkable.  The others must have come this way, they must have been equally fascinated."

"And got themselves lost?" wondered Lee.

"That seems unlikely.  If we come to any branches, we shall mark our way and they would have done the same.  There must have been some accident.  Do watch your step."

"I am, most definitely," Lee assured him.

Several hundred yards farther on they came to a small cache of equipment, instruments and packs; all obviously human and belonging to the missing men.  They swung their lights around and up, illuminating a wide area, calling out the names of Manderson and Dennie until the walls echoed.  No response came from any direction.

Lee checked in the packs, finding unused food.  "They wouldn't have gone far without provisions.  Not unless they intended to return and something prevented them."

Nelson checked the time.  "We'll go deeper for another half hour.  If we find nothing more we can return to our site and make a decision when the next portal opens."

Keeping to the left hand wall, they walked on slowly, examining the bubble-shaped concavities for any sign of life.

Five minutes later the shape of a body formed out of the shadows. 

They stopped dead.  "Hello?"  Nelson called cautiously.  "We have come through your portal from Mr Pem.  Who's that?  Professor Manderson?  Doctor Dennie?  Can you hear me?" 

The figure did not move, still half sitting, half lying at the base of the wall.  Nelson shone his torch in a wide circle, illuminating no other life, then walked forward and knelt beside the man.  It became obvious at once that the man was dead and had been so for some time.  The lifeless corpse was cold and stiff.

"Manderson!"  Lee exclaimed.  "Was it an accident?  Is he injured?"

"I can't see anything."  Nelson made a cursory examination but there was no obvious cause of death.  "It may have been a heart attack or a stroke.  He looks as if he simply sat down and died.

"Can there be something here we can't see and hasn't registered on your instrument?  Toxic atmosphere?  Bacteria?"

"Do you feel any ill effects?"

"None, but that doesn't prove anything.  They were here for some time before they lost contact."

They swung their lights around, shouting Dennie's name, receiving only echoes back from the shadowy distance.

"First, we should carry Manderson back to the portal site," Nelson said.  "We still have three hours.  We can come back here and continue the search."

It took a little time to carry the body back to the cliff face and up the sloping valley, and Lee for one was glad the red sun did not send forth any noticeable heat.

Nelson made a closer examination of Manderson's body but could still find no cause of death, no injuries or trauma.  They wrapped him in a waterproof groundsheet and sat down to take a break.

They shared a brief meal of half a concentrate bar each and Lee drank deeply from a water flask.

"Admiral?  I think don't think we should risk going back into the cliffs until we've seen the portal again and sent Manderson's body through."

"Worried it might not open for us?"

"Cautious, perhaps.  I don't place quite so much faith in the accuracy of science as you do."

"Well, you may have a point.  I would certainly not want to risk missing our rendezvous.  We can explore a little further along the cliff without entering the caves and return with plenty of time to spare."

Taking the same route back, they walked quite a distance past the first opening, peering into several other cave entrances and calling Dennie's name.  At one point, there was another flicker of the red light Lee had glimpsed before, but when they directed their flashlights into the darkness it vanished, and their loud hails received no response.  Finally, Lee checked his watch and urged the Admiral to return.

It was a good thing he had insisted.  Barely as they reached their camp site where the shrouded body of Manderson lay, a bright glare flared up some way away on the far side of the clearing and the portal sprang open.  A man waved, silhouetted in the shimmering light.

Shouting to Pem, Crane and Nelson snatched up Manderson's body between them and ran, stumbling, to the circle.  Willing hands reached through to help them with the body, pulling it back and out of sight.

"You're early!"  Nelson shouted.  "Half an hour early and the entry point has moved. This is fifty yards from where we arrived!"

"Nothing has changed on this side," Pem called back.  "What happened to Manderson? Where's Dennie?"

"I don't know, we haven't found him yet.  Manderson has no apparent injuries.  Let us know how he died at the next conjunction.  We shall remain here to search for Dennie."

For the first time, Pem seemed genuinely concerned for their safety.  He half stepped through the gateway.  "You should come back now.  There must be some danger we don't recognise."

"We can't leave now," Nelson insisted.  "He may be somewhere just out of sight, injured, he may have fallen, anything.  I don't know.  We'll search until you open the next portal."

"Very well.  But I insist you return then.  The world cannot afford to lose you, Admiral."

"It can't afford to lose either of us," Nelson said grimly.  "Can you assure me the portal will open in the close proximity?"

"I do not know why it moved.  Something is running out of synchronisation between the two worlds.  We will calculate everything again.  You may be sure of finding the next portal exactly where this is now."

"Well, I sincerely hope so, Mr Pem."

"Take care, Admiral, Captain.  Stand back, quickly, stand well away."

Without further warning, the portal flickered once then slapped shut abruptly.  Their ears popped.

Nelson looked at Lee.  "I didn't bargain for changes in time.  We'll give it no more than six hours to allow for any more discrepancy.  If we can't find Dennie alive or dead in that time we should definitely return.  Hmm," he looked up at the sky, "I don't know what killed Manderson, but I don't trust this place.  It's too quiet.  It's too . . ."

"Creepy," Lee finished for him.  "And that sun has hardly moved at all."

"The day is obviously longer than ours.  Fortunately.  We shall not have to wait in the dark."

The thought sent a chill up Lee's spine.  The place was bad enough without wondering what might be creeping up on them out of the darkness.

"Markers," Nelson said brusquely.  "We'll mark where the portal first opened, and its second appearance, and if we assume the next appearance will be in either seven or seven and a half hours, we may also assume it will have moved again, whatever Pem thinks.  Fifty yards further to the left is my calculation.  We can at least be prepared."

Having completed that task and checked the instruments again for any changes in atmosphere or any detrimental effects on their own bodies, they added extra rope and flashlights to their packs and made their way back to the cliffs and the first cavern.

Taking the same route into the first, deep cavern and retracing their steps into the tunnel, Crane and Nelson walked a little faster this time, although they maintained a vigilant caution.

As anticipated, they came to a branching of tunnels and had to make a choice.  Both decided that the slightly wider right hand route was the one any explorer might choose first, and they continued to call out Dennie's name at regular intervals.

The atmosphere began to feel close, compounded by the slightly claustrophobic feeling of the strangely sculpted walls and the dark purple-red of the shadows, unrelieved except for an occasional streak of some yellow mineral.  They came into another wide space with a ceiling so vaulted their lights hardly reached it.

Lee stopped, wiping his face with one hand.  "I feel rather strange.  Light-headed.  Like something's happened to the gravity."

"I do know what you mean."  Nelson had put a hand out to the wall to steady himself as a slight feeling of vertigo swept over him.  "We should have become accustomed to the differences in atmosphere and gravity by now.  I am glad Pem agreed we should return at the next opportunity."

"To hell with what Pem thinks," Lee said bluntly.  "I'll be pushing you through that portal the second it opens."

Nelson smiled at Crane's grim expression.  "I can assure you, Lee, you won't need to use any persuasion.  Now, another hour to go a little deeper than we went before and be certain Dennie is not within hailing distance, then we'll have done all we can." 

They walked on at a measured pace, aware the floor might not be as solid as it looked.  Then a faint light caught the Admiral's eye and he looked round, staring into the gloom.  Something flashed past his vision and instinctively he pulled away.  Someone spoke but the words were unclear.

"What did you say?  Lee?"  The hand on his arm brought him back to reality with a sudden jolt, and for a second he had no recollection of where he was.

"What's wrong?" Lee asked.

"Nothing.  I thought I saw something, heard something.  It doesn't matter."  Puzzled, Nelson shook off the feeling that they were not alone.  He lowered his torch until the only illumination was a bright pool at his feet, then switched it off.  "Lee, turn off your light."

They were suddenly plunged into pitch darkness.  Except that once their eyes became more accustomed to it, the dark was not absolute.  A pale luminescence emanated from the yellowish streaks in the rock, and in the distance hung a semi-transparent glowing ball of reddish light, swirling with streamers, almost like the waving tentacles of a sea anemone.  Both men gasped and switched on their lights again.

"Good God what's that?"  Lee breathed.  "Is that alive?"

"I don't know."  Even with their lights back on, once they had seen the glow it was still possible to distinguish its movement in their beams.  Nelson took a few steps forward and Lee caught his arm.  "Admiral!  Don't!"

"I merely want to see if it will move when I approach.  It may be only a concentration of gasses."

"It may be what killed Manderson!"

"That doesn't seem likely."  Nelson sounded a lot more certain than he felt. 

He had only taken a few steps when the glow, whatever it was, flickered and darted at him, almost too fast for the eye to follow.  It glanced off his head, without physical force, but with a sensation that was completely real, sending a sudden shock like a swift prickle of static through his body.  Taken by surprise he twisted away and lost his footing, stumbling back against the wall.

Lee was beside him at once, between him and the object, but it had already gone, leaving an after-image that made a crimson trail across the open space.

Dazed, Nelson scrambled up, rubbing his head where it had made contact with the rock.  "Good grief!"

"What did it do?"

"It gave me a kind of shock, like a burst of electricity.  Not strong, but unexpected.  Remarkable!"  He rubbed his face, still feeling a slight tingling. 

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, yes, perfectly."

"You look a little pale."  Lee studied him, concerned.

"I'd be surprised I wasn't.  Well now, if that was some kind of atmospheric effect or concentration of static electricity it could have startled them, perhaps Manderson had heart condition they were unaware of.  Or Dennie may have been climbing and he fell . . . Watch your step, Lee, in case there are more of them.  Let us proceed with caution."

"You don't think it was alive?"

"I couldn't say one way or the other.  It seems unlikely that an intelligent species could exist in that form, so perhaps some kind of natural phenomena."

"It's an alien planet for Chrissake, anything's possible!  I think we should get out of here right now.  Don't go mad scientist on me, Admiral, this is a dangerous place."

Nelson was in no mood to respond to Lee's entreaties, or his well-worn joke.  "We came here to do a job and it's our duty to carry it out to the best of our ability.  We shall see how far this large cavern extends and hail Dennie again if there are further openings.  Then if there is still no response we'll go back."

Lee knew when arguing would get him nowhere.  He shone his flashlight ahead and followed Nelson's determined stride into the ruby shadows.

Harriman Nelson was partly aware he was being foolish — stupid and mule-stubborn Lee would have called it — to insist on continuing their exploration, but instinct nagged at him to keep going just a little longer.  They would find something, he was sure of it.  If not Doctor Dennie, then at least an answer to his disappearance and the cause of Manderson's death.  He was not surprised to see another ruby glow detach from the shadows and come towards him, this time more slowly, and with definite purpose.

The tingle when it touched him again was still something he shrank from and instinctively he attempted to bat it away with his hands, feeling a sudden confused rush of fear, anger and despair.  He knew that was unlike him and he fought both the feeling and the semi-transparent being, gas, whatever it was, turning and running into what seemed a dream sequence of moving in slow motion, time standing still.  The light came and went, and then there seemed to be two of them, then one again.  It hovered, came nearer and hovered again, rising and falling in what seemed like agitation.  Then it moved back, faded into the distance and disappeared, perhaps into another passage. 

Nelson had the feeling that it wanted him to follow — but that was the last thing he felt inclined to do. 

"Lee?  Did you feel it wanted us to follow?"  Reality came back with a rush and he felt himself back in the real world again.  "Lee?"

There was no reply and he swung his torch in an arc.  He was alone.

"Lee, where are you?"  His voice fell flat.  A thread of panic rose in him and he thrust it away forcibly.  "Lee!  Crane!  Where are you?" he shouted.  Only echoing silence answered his call.

Nelson caught a flicker of light out of the corner of his eye and turned, but it was gone.  Another bright blur registered at the edge of his peripheral vision just long enough for him to see the thin trail of its after-image, then that, too, vanished.  He lowered the torch and shielded it with his hand, illuminating his scuffed boots in a brilliant pool of light.  Although the space around him was in relative darkness, he could see no more movement.  The silence was close and heavy and he began to perspire.  

Suddenly he could feel the Seaview under his feet, listing slightly, then the lights in the control room dimmed and extinguished.  Red emergency lighting took over and he smelled burning, saw coils of smoke and heard startled cries from the crew.  Crane's voice was shouting orders and a warning klaxon sounded.  The deck rolled and he heard gunfire.  He knew the prisoner had escaped and was causing havoc.  He must save Seaview, save his boat and his men, get her to the surface before they went down.  He reached out to clutch the periscope rail and found sharp rock under his hand.

Nelson snatched his hand away, the tactile input bringing him back suddenly to reality.  He swore, struggling to discern fact from fantasy.  Why such a memory should suddenly blot out the present he had no idea.  And it had been no simple memory, more like a vivid hallucination from the past.  He could still feel his heart pounding from tension and the heat of fire in the air.  Shocked, he wiped a hand across his face.  "I must be losing my mind!"  He said it aloud, and the sound of his own voice was a single point of sanity.

"Lee!" he shouted.  "Can you hear me?"  There was not even an echo, the sound of his voice deadened and flat.  With absolutely no idea where he was going, the Admiral took a deep breath and walked on into the unknown.

After a few paces he swung the light around again, waiting a moment for his eyes to become accustomed to the change before examining the area.  The roof was still arched two metres above his head and the honeycombed cavern stretched out on all sides, marked by the dark openings of linking passages.  It was a maze.  If he were not careful, he would become utterly lost.  He kept to one side, ready to freeze into the shadows at any sign of life, but there was no movement.  Every few minutes he switched off the torch, straining his eyes to make out any glimmer of light dancing to meet him, but there was no sign of the glowing forms.  Nothing moved in the silent darkness. 

He listened hard, trying to detect any faint sound that might be Lee or the missing Doctor Dennie, but both seemed to have utterly vanished.  He hesitated to call out again, uncertain whether the alien beings, if indeed they were some kind of life, could detect sound waves.

Nelson kept one hand on the walls, feeling some comfort in the reality of the sharp, brittle rock under his fingers.  He scraped at it with the butt of his torch, marking it sufficiently to recognise he had been there, attempting to memorise the route he was taking, but it was hard enough to decide which the last arch he had come through was.  He seemed to have difficulty retaining any sense of direction.

 Every few metres he scraped another mark on the wall.  It was like a journey through a claustrophobic's nightmare, dark and silent, with a heaviness in the air that made breathing an effort.  Only the necessity of finding Lee forced him on into the oppressive darkness.

He froze at every sound, so keyed up he began to hear footsteps behind him, but they were only dull echoes of his own.

A faint patch of light caught his eye and he stopped, switching off his torch.  It was stationary, nothing like the flickering movement of the beings, and as he approached it cautiously, he could see it was only a single patch of faint greenish luminescence attached to the wall.  Some kind of plant.  His torchlight swamped its own, faint glow, revealing an irregular patch of some fungus-like growth.  Not wanting to touch it with his bare hands he scraped at it with the torch, leaving a damaged patch in its soft surface that ceased to give off any illumination.  Searching around he found several other patches on both the walls and floor, but they seemed harmless enough.  He examined them for footprints or traces that anyone else had passed that way, but none showed any sign of disturbance.  At least their presence gave some variation to the unrelieved similarity of the cave system, and allowed him some hope of recognising the same area again. 

With no other direction to follow, he went on through the centre of the arched space, shouting Lee's name without real expectation of receiving an answer.  There were was no response, and his voice faded to nothing, the sound dampened as if by a heavy fog.  Disorientation suddenly swamped him, and he lost his conviction of the way back.  He clamped down fiercely on the flash of panic.  They were doing it.  They were trying to get him to stop . . .  No, that was crazy thinking.  There were no aliens, nothing influencing his mind. 

The Admiral forced himself to rationalise the feeling, knowing it was nonsense to think he was being directed or controlled.  Some effect of the world's magnetic and electromagnetic fields was distorting his perception and causing hallucinations.  A rational scientific cause and effect they could study if they ever got back to the world outside.  His only purpose now was to find Lee and return to safety.  He would forget about portals, Pem and everything else until he found Lee — dead or alive. 

"Lee!" he shouted again.  "Where the devil are you?"  There was no audible reply, but a sudden faint noise in the distance made him start.

He drew back against the nearest wall as a muffled scraping sounded from somewhere ahead, judging that something or someone was approaching from one of the side openings.  It was not the clear sound of human footfalls or the pound of running, it was more like the cautious approach of someone feeling their way in the dark.  He thought he could hear the sound of heavy breathing. 

He stayed where he was, trying to quieten his own breath.  "Lee," he said quietly.  "Is that you?  Lee?"

The scraping came nearer and a dark shape emerged from behind a side archway.  He drew a sharp breath and swung the beam of light.

"Lee!  Thank God!"

"Admiral!"  Crane clutched at him like a drowning man, his breath sobbing.  His words came out in an incoherent rush.  "It's you!  I couldn't find you, I couldn't, I'm lost, and we're dying . . ."

Nelson caught his shoulders fiercely.  "Lee!  For goodness sake, what happened to you? Where did you go?  Are you hurt?"

He seemed in no state to answer rationally, his eyes wild and seeing some horror that made the Admiral's blood run cold.  "We need to get away!"

He tried to pull free but Nelson held him firmly.  "We will, Lee, now easy.  We're all right here for the moment, there's nothing in sight."  He switched off his light and looked back the way Lee had come, but there was only unrelieved blackness.  "Nothing's following you.  You're safe.  We will get out of here straight away once I know what the devil is going on."  He put the light back on as Lee's fingers dug into his arm.  "Just tell me what happened to you."

"I don't know, it's all . . . all vague, like a nightmare.  All of a sudden you were gone and I didn't know where I was, and there was one of the red lights coming at me, and when it touched me there was a shock and confusion, nightmare, panic . . ."

"All right, sit down for a moment and take some water." 

Nelson knew shock when he saw it and he stopped asking questions.  Lee's face was pale, despite the ruby shadows, and blood beaded a scratch across one cheek.  He made Crane sit down against the nearest wall, standing his torch on the ground.  He dumped his pack and took out a water flask, noting that Lee's hands shook slightly as he drank.  Seeing that Lee had apparently lost his own flashlight, he took another from his pack and stood that down as well, making them a wide circle of bright illumination.

"Take it slowly," he said, crouching on one knee.  "Just tell me if you're hurt?"

Crane shook his head.  "No," he whispered, "I'm okay now.  Let me get my breath a moment."  He wiped a shaking hand across his face.  "Sorry," he managed weakly.

"It's all right, take your time."  What disconcerted Nelson more than anything was that something very disturbing must have happened to shatter Lee's customary self control so completely.  Whatever it was, he did not relish the thought of confronting it himself.

"Did something attack you?  I had no idea where you went to, one minute you were with me and then you were suddenly gone."

"It's crazy, it's all confused."  Crane looked up with a strange, vague expression in his eyes.  Their usually clear hazel seemed muddy in the shadowy light.  "I'm alive, I'm still here, aren't I?  Who am I?"

The question chilled Nelson.  It was not the expected 'where am I', it was definitely 'who'.

 "What are you talking about?  You know who I am, don't you?  What's the matter with you?"  He was beginning to lose his cool.  "You've had some kind of shock, but you're all right.  You're safe now.  What do you mean, who are you?"

"I don't know, I can't think straight, it's mixed up all inside my head."  Crane still seemed dazed and confused.

"Don't you remember Mr Pem and his project?  Coming through the portal?"

"All that, yes, I remember.  Manderson.  We're in the caves.  It's all right, Admiral, I don't know what I'm saying."  He pressed a hand to the graze on his face, and Nelson saw that his knuckles were bloody. 

"What happened to your hand?"

"It's nothing.  I ran into a wall."  He took a deep breath and made a visible effort to pull himself together.  "Oh hell, this isn't like me, I can't stop shaking.  Where did you go to?"

"I don't know exactly what happened.  I experienced some disorientation from another contact with one of those glowing lights, and then I realised you were gone.  Nowhere in sight."  Nelson checked his watch, keeping a close eye on the time.  "Take a moment to get yourself together and then we'll go straight out.  I know the way back.  But I would like some idea of what we might be up against.  Did it attack you?  Did it show a deliberately hostile intent?"

Lee shivered.  "You‘re really not going to believe me."

"I'm sure I shall.  This isn't like you, Lee."

"No, it isn't."  He frowned.  "Because it isn't me.  It was the other man who was afraid, the man who ran and ran, terrified, frightened of shadows.  The other man who died."

"What are you talking about?"

Lee looked up, his eyes wide.  "It wasn't my terror, or my thoughts.  I was somebody else.  There was no speech, only sensation, feelings, all in my mind.  Crazy and angry and afraid all at the same time."

"Were they trying to communicate?  Are you telling me they're intelligent and you could understand them?"

"Yes, no, I don't know, it's not like that."

"Start at the beginning," Nelson said, seeing he was unlikely to get any rational explanation from straight questions.  "Whatever the reason, we both lost sight of each other, that's obvious.  Then what happened to you?"

"I was on my own, looking for you, and I saw a red light where it was dark.  In my flashlight beam it vanished.  I was calling for you but everywhere was silent, and wherever I went the light came too, moving in a flash, I couldn't get past it.  A couple of times it touched me and I felt what you described before, like an electric shock, only somehow it was more mental than physical.  I didn't know if it was alive or what it wanted.  I tried asking it but there was no communication, not two-way, only things coming into my mind.  The fear and confusion, the absolute terror, I swear it was coming from that thing."

"Slow down, Lee," Nelson's hand tightened on his shoulder.

"It's all right, I'm okay."  He swallowed hard and went on, his voice low and strained. "I started thinking — I started feeling — I don't know how to describe it.  I knew I was dying, but I wasn't dead.  I could still see things, although I had no eyes.  All around me the place was transparent and full of strange colours, but all I wanted to do was get away and back to Pem and the others and I couldn't get to the portal.  I had no body, I was invisible."

He bowed his head and rubbed his hands over his face.  "I'm not making sense, I know, but I can't describe it any better.  It was like being in a nightmare, but I know it was real.  I know it was really happening.  That thing, alien, whatever, was inside my head and messing with my mind and it wanted a part of me.  It wanted — I don't know what it wanted, I couldn't understand.  Then I came back to reality with it floating in front of my face, but not touching me any more.  And I ran.  I didn't think, I just ran, and it wasn't only me running, it was like I was someone else as well.  I slammed straight into a rock wall, I didn't know what I was doing, I couldn't see, I must have dropped the flashlight, but I didn't care because if it was dark I could tell it wasn't coming after me.  I went on following the wall by feel and it seemed like I was going miles, and then I saw a light and it was you.  Once I saw you, things started to come back to normal."  He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  "Am I crazy?  Did I imagine all that, or did it really happen?"

"It sounds real enough, whatever the influence was.  You don't have to convince me."  Nelson had experienced a brief taste of the disorientation caused by similar contact, and it needed little imagination to put himself in Lee's place, the victim of some completely meaningless attack or attempt at communication.  There was no way to decide which it had been.

"Well, if it is life it's radically different from anything in our world.  Its influence obviously seems to disturb our brains in some way.  I've been seeing things, and hearing them; quite a vivid hallucination."

"You mean they might cause brain damage?" Lee wondered.

"I don't know.  Mr Pem may understand it better.  Now we must leave, I see no lights, nothing around, we're perfectly safe."  It was hardly the exact truth, but he felt that reassurance was essential. 

"Sure, I'm okay.  Lord, I could do with a drink, and I mean a real drink."

"I certainly concur.  All I can offer is plain old fashioned water."

"No, let's just get out of this place."  Lee looked at his watch, then looked again.  "That can't be right.  My watch must have stopped."

Nelson checked his own.  "Two hours forty-five until the next portal at its estimated conjunction."

"We must have been in here longer than that."

"Our perceptions must be distorted.  It feels longer to me as well."  The Admiral hoped sincerely it was only a subjective impression.

"You know the way out?  You sure?  I've lost all my sense of direction."

"I marked my route and I was very careful to note the branches.  This way."  The Admiral made that sound entirely certain, although the assurance was just as much for himself as it was for Lee.

"Okay.  But if we see any of those things again I think I'm going to run for my life."

"If it's any consolation," said Nelson without humour, "You may find I am two paces ahead of you."

They crossed the silent open space and found themselves in another long cavern, hardly distinguishable from the one they had left except that the streaks of yellow seemed more pronounced, several areas of wall merging into one solid yellow mass.  But to the Admiral's keen eyes, his marks stood out plainly as bright scrapes along the right hand wall.

He noticed Lee was limping.  "Something wrong with your leg?"

"Think I twisted my knee while I was running.  It's nothing."

"I don't want to have to carry you.  Lean on me."

"For a moment."  Lee rested a hand on Nelson's shoulder to ease the weight on his leg, only too glad to feel the reassurance of his solid reality.  The horror of the alien contact still clung to him like a black nightmare from which there was no escape.

"There's something odd here all the time, can't you feel it?  He struggled for a description to fit his feelings.  "It's as if it's not quite real.  Out of the corner of my eye the walls aren't really there, but they're solid to touch."

"Don't think about it."  Nelson remained single-minded.  "We came in, we'll get out.  But I do know what you mean.  This disturbing atmosphere seems to be increasing.  Let's go as fast as we can."

There was plenty of time left before the next portal opened, but worry nagged at them both that some new obstacle would arise before they could make their escape from the oppressive caverns.  And it was wearying, straining to see beyond their lights and keeping a constant check for the marks Nelson had made on the way in, while being prepared for the unexpected ˜ prepared for anything.  After a while, it seemed that the way out was far longer than the way in.

Ragged bubbles and giant honeycomb pockets still lined the walls wherever they looked, some the size of small rooms, promising that at any moment some unknown phenomenon might emerge to greet them; but as they hurried past all seemed empty.

 Suddenly Lee stopped.  "Admiral, can you feel something?  As if something's going to happen?"

"No.  How exactly?"

"I don't know.  I feel as if they're near.  That way."  Nelson flashed his light around but there was only empty space. 

"Maybe farther on.  Can't you feel it?"

"No, but you may be more sensitive to the energy, whatever it is, after your contact.  There may be other ways out but this is the only route we can be sure of.  Our only priority is to get outside with all speed."  The Admiral checked his watch again.  "We have two hours but I want to be out of here.  Forget about everything else and think about getting back."

Something flickered in the distance.  Nelson held a hand over the beam of his torch, lowering the light to a glimmer that escaped through his fingers in white streaks.

"I can see something," Lee whispered.

"Turn off your light.  We'll just use mine."  Nelson reached for Lee and gripped his arm.  "Keep together," he said softly.  "Move quietly.  We may be able to pass by without attracting them."

Two faint ruby glows were moving towards, them; one high up, weaving a dancing pattern in the air, and the other approaching with definite purpose.  The higher one was a tangled ball, while the second seemed to be the first one Nelson had seen, its long streamers waving like faded, translucent tentacles.

Nelson backed away, stumbling over the uneven ground.  He did not want to shine the light full on the entity, if he did it faded from sight, and he couldn't tell if it was going to touch him.  It swooped at him and he ducked, feeling a sting across his face.  Then his back struck sharp rock.  He swung the torch quickly.  He was trapped, backed into a corner.

He could not suppress his fear.  Contact with the things had devastated Lee and he had no reason to suppose he would fare any better.  He weaved from side to side, trying to judge a way out.  Which was futile, anyway, he could hardly move at the speed of light.

He ducked again, attempting to drop under it, but the light was quicker.  A trickle of static went through his cheek and down his arm.  It was hovering there, covering his escape. 

"What do you want?" he shouted.  "Can you hear me?  Communicate and tell me what you want.  Tell me what you are!" 

Nelson twisted away, an automatic reflex, but as he did so, he caught the message as clearly as if someone had spoken the words.  "Keep still!"

He tried to, as glow hovered over him, a fraction from his face.  He could feel its proximity like a ripple of water in the air.  He tensed, making an attempt to calm his feelings.  Perhaps it could sense emotion, or fear.  If he could control his feelings, perhaps he could communicate. 

"What do you want?" he said to the flickering shape.  "What are you?"

The filaments touched him and he flinched involuntarily, but his head snapped back against a solid wall.  He squeezed his eyes shut against the prickling glare and the pain subsided.

'Jack Manderson.'  It came into his mind like clear words, with no sound.

"What?" he whispered.  "Did you say that?  Did you speak to me?"

Lee was shouting to him and he called out, waving him back.  "Keep away, it's trying to communicate.  It's intelligent, it's trying to talk to me."

"Manderson," the thoughts whispered, "I am Jack Manderson."

Shock almost robbed Nelson of coherent thought.  "Professor Manderson? Who worked with Pem?"  He was speaking aloud but the response came back somehow inside his head, like a thready whisper in his thoughts.

"Yes.  If you keep still I can speak.  It is difficult, but I can reach you.  Do not move."

"I will keep still."  Horror was Nelson's first reaction, overcoming his initial incredulity.  He had seen Manderson's body, touched it, even carried it.  "You survived?" he said aloud, "How can you have survived?"

"This world is not like ours.  To us all it looked so like, but the very essence of the physical nature is different.  The laws of science we know do not operate here.  The boundaries of physical matter and energy are blended.  Radiation you cannot see disturbed the electrical activity that activates our bodies, but it was also enhanced.  It separated us.  We exist as minds, energies, our thoughts, our souls survive."

It was the most appalling thing Nelson could ever have imagined.

"Wait, wait a moment," he said quickly.  "Let Crane join us.  Can he hear you?  He must hear this with me."

The assent was unspoken, but Nelson beckoned.  "Lee, quickly, come close to me and let the light touch you.  Place your head by mind.  It's Professor Manderson."

"What!"  Lee's incredulity became actually tenable, conveyed to Nelson by their dual contact with the awful light.

"What happened to you, Professor?" Nelson urged.  "How could this happen?"

The thoughts seemed to waver, but they were as understandable as if someone was speaking with an audible voice.  "Dennie fell through a fault into a crevasse and I stayed with him until I knew the next conjunction of the portal was due, then went for help, but the portal did not open."

"Time runs differently here," Nelson said at once.  "Each time the portal opens it is earlier."

"Not when we first arrived."

"Then something's changing.  Our second portal conjunction was a half hour early and it had moved fifty yards."

"Interesting, how curious . . ."  Manderson's thoughts drifted into a mathematical study of what was causing the shifts that Nelson could not follow at all.

"And then what?" the Admiral prompted.  "What happened to you next?"

"I returned to Dennie to try to help him myself, but he seemed to be dying, and my own strength began to weaken.  We spent too long in here, our strength was sapped.  Before we realised what was happening we were separating from our bodies, we could see them, feel them . . .  I ran.  I almost reached the outside but weakness overcame me and I died there.  I died." 

"We found your body, Professor.  We sent it back through the portal and came to look for Dennie."  The horror was such that Nelson could not disguise the emotion of his reaction.

"You have found us both, but only our shadows.  Our useless, dying shadows.  What you see is the remnants of our brain and nervous systems, all our electrical energy stripped away and preserved in this terrible form."

"How can you see us?"  Nelson's mind was bursting with questions, although the answers came to him at once as Manderson mentally formed his replies.

"We sense you only as energy.  I only realised what and who you are when our minds touched.  Our colleagues went to great efforts to help us."

"And failed, I fear," Nelson said, "unless you know some way we can help you?"

"I know of none.  We have tried to leave here and we cannot.  Once outside we begin to lose our consciousness."

"Can you explain exactly what caused this to happen? Are Crane and I in the same danger?"

"There is a force here, unknown to our science.  I cannot even begin to explain it, but its manifestation is as you see.  Our electrical energy, the entire energy of our brains is separated from the physical.  I cannot tell you how, or why, only that I felt it happen and the consequence you see for yourselves.  I surmise that this effect, whatever you may call it, exists everywhere on this planet, but it was only when we spent time within these caverns it became manifest.  The rock concentrates it.  You must leave, leave . . ."  The Professor's thoughts became momentarily submerged under the horror that was escalating in Lee's comprehension.

The glow shimmered as Manderson's anguish strengthened.

"Dennie cannot cope, I think he is mad with the horror of it.  And we are both fading, fading, losing cohesion, losing thought and clarity."  The hovering glow dimmed and the thoughts diminished, as if the Professor's strength was almost depleted.

"You mean you're — dying again?"

"I fear so.  Without corporeal bodies we cannot exist.  Whatever alternate universe this is, the laws of physics cannot be utterly different from ours, or this world would not be so Earthlike.  We cannot exist forever in this transient form, our energy is dissipating.  Yes, dying.  If we had new bodies . . ."

Nelson felt the other's thoughts jump to the obvious conclusion, then Manderson mentally shook his head.  "No.  Dennie wanted to believe so, but it is impossible.  Our energy could not reanimate our dead bodies, we stayed with them, tried so hard.  Nor can it replace yours, Admiral.  Do not fear us, I know what you are thinking."

Nelson saw the other glow dance to and fro with agitation, caught a trickle of its mad hope and despair.

Manderson increased the volume of his thoughts.  "Dennie, no!  It is impossible.  You know it is.  Admiral, there is nothing you can do for us.  Take this knowledge back to Pem and leave us.  Save yourselves.  Out in the open you will survive longer, long enough to return home."

"But we can't simply leave you.  There must be something we can do to help you . . ."  It was obvious to Nelson that Manderson had been — still was — a brilliant scientist.  The workings of his mind were clear and amazing, displaying all the options he had considered and the desperate conclusion he had reached.  Understanding everything, the Admiral's distress for a moment obliterated both the Professor's thoughts, and Lee's.

"Nothing, there is nothing.  Tell our colleagues to halt his research at once.  This world is fatal to human life and so may all others be.  Make them stop."

"We'll do what we can.  We'll tell Pem everything.  We are so very sorry." 

"Go, go now, go at once!"

Nelson turned, pulling Lee with him.  "He's right, we have no choice.  If we want to save ourselves we must get out of here as fast as we can."  He broke contact with Manderson and the stream of intelligence vanished.

But they had only run a few paces before the second glow followed, darting towards them.  Despite his efforts to avoid it, Lee found himself once again under attack from the feelings of panic and madness, batting at it futilely with his hands, trying to escape.  The tingling contact became a psychotic rage and a desperate desire to invade his consciousness, blot out his own mind, expel him and gain control.

"Let me go!" Lee shouted, "I know who you are.  Get out of my head!"

Nelson had a handhold on his jacket, pulling him in the direction of the entrance, waving his flashlight in a futile attempt to drive Dennie away.

"He wants me!"  Lee gasped.  "He wants my body so he can live again.  Get out of here, Harry, get away!"

 "We're getting out of here together," Nelson countered forcibly.  "This way, ignore it and keep going.  Manderson!" he shouted, "Can you hear me?  Help us!"

The Professor either sensed or saw what was happening.  The glow that must be Dennie jumped back as a second flashed towards it.  They hung together for a moment, wavering at first and then darting back and forth in a frenzied dance.

Heedless of what might be happening behind them, the two men ran.

"Straight ahead.  Go on, keep going, I know the way."  Nelson pushed Lee ahead.  "Come on, go!"

Their final flight seemed to take an age, an endless journey of wavering flashlight beams and dancing ruby shadows before they finally stumbled through the vast cavernous entrance and out of the cliffs.  The sight of daylight, dull, pink and alien though it was, filled them utter relief. 

Lee was gasping for breath.  "He wanted my body, he was forcing me out of it!"

"No, that's impossible, Manderson told me so."

"It felt as if I was losing myself!"

"Then you were imagining it," Nelson said roughly.  "Pull yourself together, we're out of it now.  Time's passing, we must keep running."

Lee was still looking back, watching a ruby glimmer dancing in the darkness of the cavern entrance.  "He's still there, he's going to follow us."

"They can't survive in the open air.  He won't come after us."  Nelson pushed Lee ahead of him.  "Out of this valley and back to the portal site, as fast as you can.  Run!"

Lee needed no encouragement, only checking that the Admiral was behind him he began to sprint through the tumbled rocks and back up the valley.

Behind them the dancing lights flickered and faded, darting back into the darkness.

At the top of the slope, still yards away from the next marker, they caught a glimmer of bright light in the distance and heard the faint slap of the portal closing.

"No!"  Lee sank to his knees, his breath sobbing.  "No, no!  We've lost it!  It's closed!"

"It was earlier.  The time elapsed was even shorter than last time.  At this rate, it will be open again in less than five hours.  Steady, Lee, we only have to wait.  Pem will come back for us."  Nelson's fingers bit into his shoulder, sharing his feelings, a mixture of shock and despair at missing the portal — relief at escaping from the caves — horror for the fate of the two scientists — the emotions surged between them, shared and duplicated. 

Lee pulled away with a gasp, his eyes wide.  "Admiral?  What's happened to us?  I can hear your thoughts, feel what you feel . . ."

"Some vestige of the mental contact with Manderson?"  Nelson's emotions were tinged with fear, strictly controlled, his words brusque.  "I don't know.  It'll wear off.  Back to the portal site first.  Concentrate on making sure we are in place when it next opens.  Time to work out the rest later."

"While we wait, yeah, that's all."  Lee clambered to his feet and drew a hand across his face, trying to pull himself together.  "Where's Dennie?"

"Gone back.  They can't come into the open, either the sun or the lack of concentrated energy inside the rock makes them unable to leave.  I understood that from Manderson's thoughts.  He didn't have to tell us, I knew he had worked it out."

Lee shook his head, feeling strange.  It was as if they were still connected to the disembodied spirits and all the thoughts were converging in his mind.  He not only heard what Nelson was saying, he felt it at the same time.  It was difficult to concentrate on anything else, but the Admiral was already checking the markers, calculating the spatial movement of the portal and where it should open next.  They dragged their packs and equipment to the location, an open space on the bare hillside strewn with small boulders and sank down, exhausted.

They were glad of water but neither man felt like eating, despite the need to replenish their strength.

Lee rubbed his knee, realising he had been too occupied to feel pain.  "Isn't there some way to help them?  How can we simply leave them behind here to fade away?"

"How can they come with us?  They have no corporeal bodies, how could they travel through the portal?"

"Surely there must be some way.  They're suffering.  They're dying!"

"Don't you think I know that?  What do you expect me to do?  Wave a magic wand and change the laws of physics?"  Frustration caused Nelson to snap.

"No, but . . ."

"I always have the answers, don't I?  This time, Lee, I'm afraid I don't.  They died in every sense that we understand it.  The shadows that remain are not life that could survive in our world.  They can't be made human again."

"It's like their souls."

"Which are fading.  And when they are fully faded, I'm sure they will go to wherever souls are supposed to go.  What else can I say?"

"We shall have to tell Pem everything."

"Yes," Nelson said heavily, "indeed we shall."

"Admiral," Lee said cautiously, "This mental thing, this rapport, do you still have it?"

The older man closed his eyes, concentrating.  He could read Lee's deep, unspoken fear that they would turn into disembodied glowing balls of light themselves and never escape, but all he said was, "Your knee still isn't right."

"Nothing serious, a pulled muscle.  You can tell?"

 "The contact is marginal, but what you are feeling, I feel."

"I thought it was wearing off a little," said Lee. 

Nelson sensed that was more wishful thinking than hard fact.  "If that's all we've come away with, we're lucky."

Lee massaged his knee, avoiding Nelson's gaze.  "I don't know if I could live with it."

"I'm sure we could if we had to.  We may have no choice.  Would you rather stay here with them?"

He shook his head.  "I'd rather be . . ." 

Nelson felt his hesitation.  "What?  What would you rather be doing?"

Lee managed a smile.  "You could always read me, even before this.  There isn't anything else.  This is what I am, who we are.  Always up to our necks in trouble and you enjoy it like you're twenty years old."

Nelson grunted.  "I'd enjoy it better if I were twenty years old and past sins didn't give me a pain in the back or twinges from old bullet wounds.  What a fine couple we would make!"

"You‘re okay as you are now.  If you were twenty-five years younger I‘d never keep up with you."  Lee's smile faded and he couldn't help voicing the nagging dread that was uppermost in both their thoughts.

 "Will you tell me the truth?  Are we really okay or do you think we could we continue to go their way once we're back home?"

"I don't know," Nelson said simply.  "Manderson thought we would be safe, but how can I say?  I truly don't know.  I only wish we could have helped them.  I wish there was something we could have done."

"There didn't seem to be any choice but run to save our necks."  Lee suddenly caught the thought that Nelson was unaware he had broadcast. "No!  You'd have given Manderson your body and exchanged your life for his?"

"He said it couldn't be done and I believed him."

"But you considered it!"  Anger obliterated the shock in Lee's thoughts.

"For a moment.  How can I deny it?  I can't hide it from you now, can I?" 

"But why?"

"He was a brilliant man.  I saw his mind, I understood him.  It was such a terrible waste for him to die.  He could have achieved so much more in his life, great things."

"And so can you!"

Nelson mentally winced under the impact of Lee's quick flare of anger. 

"I didn't give it up my humanity and ethics when I crossed from one dimension into another!"  His own anger retaliated, fuelled by the helpless fury of finding himself in a situation where all his abilities and intelligence were useless.  Lee understood that feeling only too well.

"You're needed as much as he is, Admiral, your brain's as good as his.  You were always a genius.  Seaview needs you, damn it, and I don't want another jumped-up brasshat taking her over."

"No more do I, I assure you.  Nelson's anger subsided as swiftly as it had arisen.  "No need to fight.  This place has upset our nerves."

Lee signed.  "Can't deny that.  I feel strung up like a wire thinking about whether that damn portal is going to open again — and where.  And is it getting darker?"

"The sun has moved a little, but I think daylight will last many more hours."

"Thank God for that."  Lee looked up at the deepening purple of the sky, where the ringed moon was still visible, shining more brightly with an unearthly beauty.  "Is that really what we're seeing?  I didn't know a moon could have rings."

"It's perfectly possible; even Saturn's moon Rhea has minor rings.  Though they might not last more than a few hundred thousand years.  It depends on the combined gravity fields and the rotations of the moon and the planet."  Nelson stopped suddenly, with a quiet "Oh!"

"What?" said Lee, immediately worried.

"That knowledge came too quickly.  It isn't mine.  It's Manderson's!  I have retained some of his recent memories from our close mental contact."

"Good Lord," breathed Lee, "Are you sure?"

"Not entirely, and I won't force it.  When we're home where I can sit down quietly without distractions I will try to recall everything I possibly can.  It would mean that he isn't totally lost.  The things that I saw in his mind, the world of knowledge, perhaps I have retained a shadow of it all.  How wonderful that would be!" 

Lee could feel Nelson's excitement, share a little of the wonder he was experiencing as the Admiral's mind chased the elusive vestiges of another man's thoughts.  "Pem's power source, I might find it.  Manderson surely was a part of all the experiments, the entire operation.  He knew the theories if not the actual minutiae.  If he had thought about it recently I shall know what it is."

"I hope so.  I wouldn't feel so bad about having to abandon what's left of them here."

"Not a word of this to Pem when we go back.  He'd most likely stop us returning to our own time if he knew we had knowledge that might alter the course of history."

Lee closed his eyes tightly and opened them again.  "Sometimes I think this must be all a bad dream.  A nightmare."

"No, it's real, believe me."  A kind of wonder crept into Nelson's tone.  "Look at this place.  Another world, another dimension, we don't even really understand where it is or what it is.  If it weren't for the terrible effect on human life I should almost wish to stay here for the rest of my life to explore it."

"Mad," murmured Lee.  But secretly he was glad to see the Admiral's unquenchable enthusiasm for knowledge had not been damaged, barely even dented by recent events.  That vitality was one of Nelson's qualities that he respected most deeply.  The man he had met first six years ago seemed not to have aged a day; he was still driven by the same enthusiasm and lust for life as on that first hectic mission in the Arctic wastes.

"It's only been six years," he mused.

"Since you joined my Seaview," Nelson finished for him.

"Only six years, but I feel as if I've been there all my life."

"She does that you," Nelson said simply.  "I was re-born when I launched her."

"At least if we — if we end up like them we'll have had a good life."

"I sincerely hope it will not come to that.  I have many more useful years to exist in my own body, in my own world.  We will leave here, Lee, be positive."

"I'm trying."  Lee began pacing, watching both the area where the next portal should open and the way back to the caves, but nothing moved, no flickers of red light rose over the rocks and no shimmer of silver signalled the end to their adventures.

When he looked round he saw that the Admiral was trying to rest, his eyes closed, his head propped on one of their packs.  But Lee knew he was not asleep.  He could hear the whispering susurration of his thoughts, picking over the events of the last few hours with a precise recollection, memorising everything for their eventual debriefing.

Lee considered for the first time what it would be like to work alongside someone who's mind you could read.  The idea scared him as much as it intrigued him.  But it would probably be impossible to live like that, it would become unbearable, there would be no peace, no private thoughts.  He would have to leave Seaview.  That would be the worst possible outcome.

Nelson opened his eyes and looked up, sensing a disappointment, a yearning.  "Don't worry, we will get home."

"I'm sure we will."  Lee tried to smile.  "Are you still reading my thoughts?"

"Not entirely.  The ability seems to be fading a little, I have only bare impressions.  How about you? "

"I'm not sure.  I think you may be right."  Lee sat down and closed his eyes, trying and not trying at the same time, worried that he might still receive a burst of brilliant thoughts from his companion.  But there was a change, the Admiral was right that the ability seemed less intense.  He pulled a pack under his had and tried to rest, allowing himself to savour the last trickle of the incredible rapport, the magic, as the magic went away.  Where had he heard that phrase before?  No, read it somewhere.  An explanation for why people believed there were supernatural powers in the days of Merlin and King Arthur.  Magical powers such as telepathy had once existed as a real adjunct to known science, but the ability faded from mankind as they evolved more complex and mechanised lives.  The magic went away.  In Pem's parallel universe, it was still alive.

"Lee, are you all right?"

Reassuring concern again, from the man who was more of a father and friend than a commander.  Real life in their own universe could be just as good.  It was all anyone could hope for.

"Yes, I think so."

"I understand.  I still catch a little of what you're feeling.  There's nothing we can do now but wait." 

Lee must have dozed, because he suddenly became aware of raising his head from Nelson's shoulder where he had inadvertently rolled over.  He straightened up, and then caught his breath in utmost horror.  A faint ruby light was glowing around the Admiral's head.

Nelson heard his gasp and caught the mental echo of his shock and horror.  "What?  What's wrong?"

"You have a halo."  Lee's voice was strained.  "Oh good God, there's a halo round your head.  You're turning into one of them!"

"I don't feel any different . . ."   Shocked, Nelson put his hands to his head, automatically feeling for something he couldn't see.

Lee grabbed his shoulders.  "Don't you feel anything?  Look at me!  Do I have one too?"

"No.  No, you don't.  Describe what you can see." 

"A glow, I thought I saw a glow, but now it's gone."  Lee fought against the panic that was rising in him.  "It must have been a trick of the light, the red sun, some effect on my eyes.  We can't be leaving our bodies yet, we can't be!"

"We haven't been here long enough to suffer that effect.  Our bodies are alive and well.  Don't let your imagination run away."  Nelson used the scanner Pem had supplied with their equipment to monitor their own bodies, scanning himself and then Lee.  There was a small fluctuation on the brain waves, perhaps the result of their enhanced mental communication, but nothing he could really understand.  He was more afraid now of the unknown than any definitive threat.

"It's not safe to stay here!" Lee's expression was wild.

"We know that," Nelson snapped.  "But it's far safer out here in the open than going back to the caves.  It was the concentration in the caves that killed them.  And they'd been here for days before it happened."

"Are we going to last another few hours?"

"Of course.  We'll be all right if we make the next gate."

The rest was unspoken, but understood.  The emotion was so intense it jumped between them again, bridging the fading rapport.  The next gate was their only chance.

Lee felt sick, and a little light-headed, but he knew his imagination was now working overtime, turning every sensation into a symptom of leaving his body.

"There's nothing we can do about it," Nelson insisted, trying to hold on to calmness.  "We must concentrate on being ready.  We cannot afford to miss the portal.  Half an hour, Lee, only half an hour."

They began pacing, unable to sit still, silently worrying that Nelson's calculations might be wrong and the portal reopen this time too far away for them to reach.  Or so far away they would not even know it had opened, far beyond the cliffs, down near the great caverns . . . .

They both gasped with overwhelming relief as the familiar flash of light sprang up on the line Nelson had calculated, close enough to be reached.  Without a second's pause, they sprinted for the doorway of escape and flung themselves through.

Willing hands reached out to help them, pulling them into the control room as the iris closed behind them with a final echo.

For a moment all the two men could do was gasp for breath and savour the wonderful realisation that they were back in the real world.  It might not be exactly their own time, but it was incomparably better than the alternate world they had left on the other side of the portal.

There seemed to be a commotion at the control panel, sparks were arcing from one of the screens and Roderick was shouting for all power to be cut.  Finally, the hubbub subsided and full attention turned to the returned explorers. 

Pem was pumping the Admiral's hand, effusive in his greeting.  "We were so afraid you were lost!  You were correct, the time discrepancies were increasing, we were losing our synchronisation with the other dimension.  We diverted extra energy to open the portal one last time and energy saturation sucked in even more power.  We lost control and I fear we shall never regain it.  But did you find Dennie?  What has happened?"

"Doctor Dennie won't be coming home," Nelson said heavily.  "We found them both. Your other world killed them." 

"And would have killed us," Lee added.

"We could find no cause of death for Manderson except that his heart failed.  Do you know what happened to him?"

"I can tell you in his very own words."  Nelson stifled what might have been a laugh, afraid it might turn into hysteria.  "Give us a drink first, man, something strong.  Then we have a very sad story to relate."

"We need you to explain everything that happened, everything you saw."  Pem had a bottle in one hand and gave them each a large measure of brandy.  Good stuff, Lee realised, while wondering vaguely where — or when — it came from.  He was beginning to feel totally unreal, reaction catching up with him.  And he knew Harry was feeling the same.  The rapport was still there.

"Could we please move away from all this equipment?" he asked.  "I really don't want to feel it might suddenly transport us again."

"It will not, I assure you.  In fact, I fear it may never function again."

"That would definitely be for the best," muttered Nelson.

"But come, let us all assemble in the common room.  We must hear your report."  Pem led the way and they sank into chairs, exhausted. 

The rest of the scientists crowded around, eager to hear the Admiral relate the events of the past twenty hours, but Nelson needed a second stiff drink before he began to tell the story of their horrifying experiences and the tragic beings they had left behind.

There was shocked silence when he had finished.  Pem was stricken and the older men were shaking heads in anguish and disbelief.  "We should have known," Roderick whispered.  "There must have been indications . . ."

"There were none," Pem said, "none."

The Admiral was subdued.  "I can't stop thinking about some of the ideas I saw in Manderson's mind.  I really saw them, I grasped the concepts, things I'd never have understood before.  I'm not sure what I can do with them, but perhaps, someday."

"If anyone can, you can," Lee said.

Nelson smiled tiredly.  "I appreciate your faith in me, but after seeing his thoughts I know my limitations.  Pem, your colleague was a very fine man."

"We know.  We mourn him deeply, and also Doctor Dennie."

"I only wish there was more we could have done."

"We understand there were no other options open to you, no other course of action you could have taken."

 "I know.  If I hadn't believed that completely I could not have abandoned them."  He sighed, heavy hearted.

Roderick held out his hands and gripped the Admiral's.  "We have nothing but gratitude for your efforts and sorrow for your terrible experiences.  I hope you will be able to forget about us and go back to your normal lives.  On our part, we shall always wish we could have foreseen this tragedy."

"I think it will take us all time to come to terms with what we discovered," Lee said, and Nelson knew he was remembering the red halo, seeing it dimly around his head through Lee's own eyes.  The knowledge passed between them, unspoken.  The empathy was a silent secret, unshared with the rest of the group.

"Don't blame yourselves for trying to advance scientific discovery," Nelson told Roderick.  "The quest for knowledge brought mankind out of the dark ages and still propels us forward."  He sat back in the chair, regarding the now silent onlookers.  "I'm so very sorry.  Mr Pem, what will you do now?"

Pem shrugged.  "We can do nothing more.  Even if our experiments could be restarted, we shall not continue.  I shall close down our operation here and take my colleagues back to their homes.  They will tell no one.  There seem to be some secrets that can never be shared.  Mankind is not ready for this burden yet, not in this era, perhaps not ever.  Whatever my failings, I shall not pretend to be God."

"Pem, can you stop all this happening?  Can you go back in time and stop it?"

The little man shook his head.  "I wish I could, Admiral, but it seems that I cannot change what has already happened."

"But you have all of time at your disposal, and you have this machine that's so far beyond anything I would have believed credible.  Can't you find some way to stop yourself inventing the way to make this portal?  Make it so your men never went to that world at all?  Blot out all of this?"

"I don't believe so, Admiral, but I shall consider it.  I shall work on it.  Perhaps, one day.  Who can say what wonders I might achieve next?  But would I know if I could go back and stop myself — or would it simply happen again if I forgot?  It is a paradox to consider."

"Oh, please," Lee murmured, pressing his fingers to his head.

"And you, of course," Pem shot the two men a glance, "if I succeeded you would never know it.  None of this would ever have happened."

"Oh, I think we could live with that," Nelson said, and smiled at Lee.  "In fact I'm sure the Captain could."

Lee sighed.  "Mr Pem, are you going to let us go home now?"

"Of course.  Whenever you are ready, I will transport you at once.  But before you leave, I would like my colleague Doctor Frizel to make sure you have not suffered any lasting effects.  If you will allow him, he can scan you with an advanced diagnostic.  It will only take a few moments."

"All right then, get on with it and let us get away from here."

A small old man who had been manning one of the consoles came forward with a device a little larger than the one they had taken with them and scanned both men carefully, his wrinkled hands displaying a slight tremor.  He tutted to himself as he watched the readings, then finally said, "Everything is normal.  Perhaps a slight elevation in cerebral activity in the temporal region but nothing I would consider dangerous.  Does either of you gentlemen feel any after-effects that would constitute abnormal brain activity?"

"No," they both said at once.

"Very well then, I can declare you fit and well, and I must say remarkably lucky not to have suffered the same fate as our esteemed colleagues."

"Lucky, yes," murmured Nelson.

"I suggest you should continue to rest for a short time before you are thrown back into your former lives.  You have suffered many shocks during the past twenty-four hours."

He walked back to Pem to show him the readings. 

"Just give us a moment," Nelson said, signing to Pem and beckoning Lee aside, out of earshot.

"How do you feel?" he asked softly.  "Is it any better?  We still don't tell Pem any of this."

"No, it's too weird.  I can still feel like — an afterglow."

"A slight empathy," Nelson said.  "I can still see, feel things . . ."  

"You don't have to say it," Lee said.  "I know."

Crane watched the Admiral's face with a curiosity that held a little apprehension.  "You're changed somehow.  You're different.  Maybe we both are."

"Are we?  You don't walk through fire without getting burned, Lee, but this strange link was already beginning to wear off on the other side.  It may not last at all now we're back in our own dimension and home in our own time.  Although I don't know for certain.  I really don't."

"Take each day as it comes," said Lee.  "That's all we can do."

"We are still who we were, merely a trifle — enhanced."  Nelson's charismatic smile was unchanged. 

Crane felt a brief flicker of communication, like a trickle of static.  "As long as we face it together."

"As always, my dear Captain.  Now, shall we return to our boat and our men in the only world that really matters?"

CAPTAIN SCARLET STORIES BY FAY SYMES

BACK TO "OTHER FANDOMS FAN FICTION" LIST

BACK TO SID DATABASE

BACK TO  “FAN FICTION ARCHIVES” PAGE

Any comments? Send an E-MAIL to the SPECTRUM HEADQUARTERS site