Masters was more than a little flustered, and to add to this feeling fear was now also added, along with a little dash of disbelief. Masters quickly turned the plane back towards the aerodrome; Tyler could hear the voice of Masters, he was speaking shakily on the radio, but all Tyler could hear by way of a reply was static. The weather seemed to be interfering with the radio reception and flying was now getting more and more dangerous by the second. Tyler`s pulse began to race and he could feel a veil of sweat that had appeared on his upper lip. The plane was already beginning to be buffeted by the abnormally strong winds that had preceded the storm, and his stomach began to react to the motions of the plane. Now they were being tossed about as if the plane was only a paper bag, and he prayed that they would get down before he was forced to use the actual paper bag that was always there ready for the passengers to use, should it become necessary. From Masters` posture Tyler could see him visibly recovering from his initial panic. He no longer seemed to be the man that Tyler had met down by the dingy office, not even the man of a minute ago, now he was a man in control of his plane, in control of himself, and Tyler hoped, in control of the situation. As each second went by the wind speed increased, Tyler was now being painfully bumped against the fuselage despite the seat belts. As time moved slowly by, time itself changed, it seemed to have been stretched out to an impossible extent, and it was almost as if time had been slowed down so as to maximize the amount of terror they were to endure. Although the plane was undoubtedly moving as fast as it could, only the storm seemed to be moving with any speed, and as it was moving at impossible speeds it was now upon them. Tyler`s joy that had appeared not long before had turned into a nightmare, he too had been anticipating a sunny weekend, but no weather front in the world could travel like this, and at this speed, could it? The centre of the massive black billowing storm clouds seemed to emit a glow that flashed even brighter as a large bolt of lightning flashed down towards the ground. However, this was just a precursor for the tremendous crash of thunder that followed confirming his worst fears, that they were about to enter into a very large and angry thunder storm, or rather it was about to envelope them, with no way for them to avoid it. The clouds were tearing along at an impossible low height now, almost as if heavily weighed down by their contents, or designs, for to Tyler they appeared to be filled with an evil that wanted nothing less than their lives.
“Can you get us down in this?” Tyler asked just a little nervously, his voice wavering a little as it conveyed his concern about their current situation.
“I don`t know Mr Burrows, I just don`t know, but if you know of any prayers then I suggest you say one for us.”
Tyler didn`t know any but soon made some up, for by now they were being forced to fly much lower than was normally considered safe as the storm clouds dropped further and still further. It was if the clouds didn`t want to let them escape, but wanted to hold on to them, to envelope them, to possess them, or maybe even to destroy them. When all seemed lost, there before them Tyler could just make out the thin strip that was the runway, but these strange clouds hadn`t ceded victory to them yet, indeed they seemed guided by a malevolent intelligence that wanted nothing less than their deaths, for the clouds had now dropped to almost treetop height! In turn Masters was forced to try and fly through these clouds and somehow miss the very top branches of the trees in his attempt to reach the small airstrip. Now this in any other circumstances would be considered plain suicidal, for at times Tyler was convinced that they were taking parts of the trees along with them. They were in the middle of this strange storm, they should have been torn to shreds but they weren`t, they should have been dead but they weren`t. The runway should be almost under them now, and although the winds would make the landing dangerous if not impossible, if they could see the runway there seemed at least a better chance of life than flying up here. That chance was snatched cruelly away from them when the blackest of the clouds decided to finish this uneven battle, and somehow the clouds seemed to actually reach out for them. For the clouds had dropped below them and with no other option left to him, Masters pulled up on the stick and took them up into the storm, they were now flying blindly towards what could only be their deaths.
Tyler was sure that they had now left the known universe and had entered into the netherworld beyond, they were inside unworldly clouds, the playthings of the gods. From out of nowhere Tyler and Masters felt a terrific uplift as they found to their awe that their terrors had indeed reached new heights, for they had been lifted further into this new and terrifyingly different world, they were now in a different universe with different laws to govern it. A world where the blackest of clouds could glow with a deathly life of their own, dazzling you with their glare, terrorising you as large shapes appeared from out of the swirling maelstrom only to disappear back into its swirling depths. The engine of the plane chose this moment to stutter as if it too was panic stricken, and finally it began to fade as if it did not dare to fly within this alien environment. Somehow Masters managed to keep the engine turning over, but something in the air was in its turn impeding his efforts to keep the plane flying on an even keel. The fear on the face of Masters had returned twofold, and Tyler could feel the same fear and panic rising in him as well, how he was able to hang onto his own ragged nerves for so long he would never know.
“Captain Masters have you ever seen a storm like this before?” Tyler cried out in panic.
“Never before has the weather been like this Mr Burrows, it feels almost as if it is possessed.”
Tyler now began to feel that something was watching them, moving them around like pawns on a chess board; he took a deep breath and attempted to rid his mind of this ridiculous feeling, things were bad enough without such thoughts. He could feel the sweat rolling down his face; he was slipping down into a depth of fear so deep that he thought it would be impossible to return from it, he gripped the arms of his seat so hard that he knew that his knuckles must have turned white. He was certain that they were doomed to die in this storm of storms.
“I was made redundant yesterday Captain Masters, this flight was supposed to cheer me up.” Tyler managed to say in an effort to throw off his feelings of panic and concentrate on getting through this nightmare.
“Cheer you up; you would need to have a strange sense of humour to find anything funny about our current position Mr Burrows.” Masters replied with a hint of a smile appearing on his face as he tried to add a little humour into their situation, but failed.
All about them Tyler saw a nightmare vision that wanted nothing more than to attack their flimsy aircraft and it`s passengers. Tyler could see that he had two options, one pass out, or two get a grip on himself, for if was to die he may as well not be a quivering lump of jelly. How he still managed to turn aside from everything that was happening outside of the aircraft and talk to Masters he could not say, but talking to Masters helped both Tyler and Masters to keep on the right side of sanity. Maybe the situation was beyond hope, beyond despair, maybe ….but Tyler could hear himself talking calmly to Masters.
“Captain Masters whilst we are still alive there is still hope.” Yes it was a platitude, but he said it to try and keep their hopes above rock bottom, just to continue on with the stunted conversation he was having with Masters, and because it was the only thought to pop into his mind.
Unfortunately the weather outside seemed to disagree with this statement, and the light aircraft was hit by an even more violent gust of wind throwing the plane sideways and Masters head violently against the metal frame of the cockpit, knocking him out. Tyler screamed out his name in panic.
“Captain Masters, Masters come out of it.” Tyler tried repeatedly to bring him around but he was knocked out cold and Tyler knew then that they must both die; something that seemed inevitable, for the plane must crash to the ground or explode deep within this strange storm. Tyler breathed deeply again and willed himself to keep as calm as he could within this nightmare world.
They had bee
n careering on without anyone at the controls for some moments before Tyler grabbed at the joystick, as he attempted to regain some control of the plane, but his efforts were useless against the power of the storm. The whole of his body was now covered in sweat, and he was sure that he had lost a couple of pounds in weight since the plane had taken off from the small airfield. However, the inside of the plane was ice cold, far colder than Tyler had ever been before, his breath now froze as he exhaled, he shivered uncontrollably as the windows of the aircraft began to mist up. Masters was still unconscious, his head moving to the motions of the plane, Tyler realised that they were both puppets here, controlled by the will of the storm and nothing more. Nothing aboard the plane was working except for the stuttering engine that still refused to die completely, and Tyler was sure that it would also give in to the storm soon. They should have crashed into something but still they flew on intact inside the clouds, they should have been torn apart, but something seemed to want more from them, more than just fear.
It didn`t seem as if the situation could get any worse than it was already, but it did as from out of nowhere a pounding began to beat against Tyler`s ears. Tyler heard himself screaming as the noise increased tenfold. Tyler was forced to cease his feeble attempt to gain control of the craft and he released his hold on the joystick just so that he could cover his ears, anything to try and somehow block out the noise. However, it didn`t, for the pain of the mother of all headaches made itself felt now until he thought he must either faint or die as his head exploded, his headache had now grown one hundred fold, or so it seemed to Tyler Burrows. The plane was now vibrating to the beat of the noise until it reached such a pitch that it seemed the craft must shake itself apart. With the pain and the terror Tyler had no time to realise that it was the sound of his own heart, and that of Masters, beating at fever pitch and somehow magnified to a terrifying level inside this strange alien world. The thunder storm of cyclopean strength chose now to unleash more of its venom against them, and as larger and brighter lightning flashes lit up their entire universe they were accompanied by the roars of thunder so loud that it threatened what was left of his reason. A large rock suddenly appeared from out of the maelstrom, but how on Earth had it found its way up into the middle of a storm? This thought flashed through Tyler`s brain. The rock was heading directly for the Miles Finch, so finally they were to die, Tyler thought as he grabbed the joystick and jerked it violently to one side in the hope of missing the rock. This action coupled to a huge gust of wind that came out of nowhere jerked the small aircraft violently into a different direction, causing the rock to plunge on by the, narrowly missing the large wings of the aircraft.
It was the large wingspan of the Miles Finch that had kept it flying in the ever decreasing atmosphere around it. How the rock happened to be flying through the air Tyler would find out one day, but for now he had other problems that needed his urgent attention. The colour of the clouds had become almost psychedelic, as a continuous flow of bright orange lights sped towards them at impossible speeds, only to shoot by them and disappear back into this terrifying cloud, making Tyler believe for a second that he was in an x-file movie. For a long moment Tyler was blinded by the glare of a lightening flash that was uncomfortably close to the light aircraft. Finally, his sight returned, but it brought more terror as he saw his skin changing colour to match that of the cloud, but it was not just a reflection of the clouds colour, his skin was really changing colour, then he noticed that the plane, Masters, everything, every atom of everything was changing, was in motion, disassembling from its neighbour. Tyler wanted to scream to relieve his stress, but by now nothing remained still long enough to allow him even this small amount of comfort. His body, that of Masters, even the aircraft, everything single atom was in constant motion. He was sure that he would soon pass out, but as his mind verged on hysteria everything stilled, Tyler stilled, the aircraft stilled, Masters stilled, time stilled. It was only Tyler`s heart and mind raced on ahead, and he likened it to being in a living nightmare, the sort where no matter how fast you run you seem to stand still, unable to reach the safety that you crave, unable to do anything but fear. His mind was the only part of him that was still working, and it shocked him as he began to realise a moment, or was it a lifetime later, that some part of him was begging for more of this action. The danger and excitement were making him thrill, making him feel more alive than ever before, craving the excitement, striving to go on living like this, the eagerness for it to continue now could have become an even greater danger to his wellbeing, if he had been able to control even the smallest of events that happened around them.
One piece of information not known by Tyler was that the aircraft was now nowhere near to the planet Earth, it had just passed Alpha Centauri in the twenty second century and was still moving forward in time and even further through space. They were flying within a large pocket of air that had been swallowed along with the small aircraft, and this together with a large amount of hydrogen gas stolen from the icy cold giant planet Jupiter allowed the aircraft to continue flying in the middle of the space storm. To Tyler it seemed to be a contest between the storm and gravity as to which would kill them, as yet another huge blaze of lightning lit up the sky directly ahead. They plunged straight into its fiery embrace, lightning rippling along the plane much as water does across a rock. Tyler was beginning to get very light headed. Normality had indeed left the room he thought as he began to lose consciousness, leaving only this supernatural storm that battled against the small aircraft, tossing it and its occupants about like so much flotsam.
Chapter Five
June 21st the Year 2494
On the Planet Orion
On the planet Orion, Colonel Bragg rushed into the control room of the Fusion Reactor to find the technicians assembled in a group, they were before one of the consoles loudly debating what they should do, but doing precious little actual work.
“May I suggest a little more action and a little less discussion might help us sort out the mess?” Bragg said, exasperated by the lack of activity before him.
Bragg turned to the technician in command of the reactor. Paul Swenson.
“Mr Swenson the only Phaser fire within the building was firstly along the far wall when a shot narrowly missed me.” Bragg indicated the wall opposite the entrance to the reactor room which had been behind Bragg when the androids had fired at him.
“The second place was when another shot missed me and ricocheted off of that unit there and hit Peterson.” Bragg indicated the blackened and damaged unit at the end of the left hand bank of machines and again opposite the entrance to the reactor room. This unit had been slightly ahead, but to one side of Bragg when one of the androids had fired at him. Along the rear wall there were none of the most sensitive machines that controlled the reactor, these were set along the three remaining walls. The only unit to be directly hit was the one that Bragg had indicated, and this didn`t seem to be in too bad a shape.
“May I suggest that you start there?” Bragg indicated the blackened surface of the rear wall that would have been just above his head when the fire fight was on. “And also the machine that took a direct hit from a Phaser bolt.” Bragg then turned and left the reactor building, and after he had checked on his two marines posted outside, he walked the long way back to the Time Machine control room so that he could think over his options. As he was approaching the science complex he reached a decision. Colonel Bragg entered the Laboratory and crossed over to Jameson who was at the far end of the room.
“I am going to going to destroy the Crystillium computer that sends power to the Time Platform, that will stop the monster from reaching Orion and killing lord knows how many people.”
“You cannot do that Colonel, it has just occurred to me that as the fusion reactor is discharging its full power through that unit, to destroy it would leave the power with no place to go. It could destroy the laboratory and leave us without any control whatsoever, that or it might even cause the
reactor itself to explode, at least we still have a chance that the Time Platform will return empty, the figures our computers are showing could just be an error reading caused by a damaged component in one of the computers. We will have to wait to see what does come back with the Time Platform… that and maybe pray. Adrian may have died for no reason what so ever.” Richard Jameson was sick with worry for the planet, his team, his family and now his conscience was troubling him.
“I`m not interested in your Laboratory, Jameson, but what you say about the reactor scares me, are you sure that the reactor could explode if we disconnect the Time Platform from it at this critical moment?” Bragg asked. He saw that the death of Adrian Powers was weighing heavily on Jameson`s conscience and that the scientist was losing it, and losing the ability to think straight.
“No Colonel I am not sure of anything anymore, you must ask Swenson, he should know, but you must act now as we only have minutes left.”
Seconds later and only minutes before the Time Platform was due to return to Orion, dragging its retinue with it, Bragg`s telephone sprang to life, it was Swenson in the fusion reactor.
“We finally have a serving of good luck Colonel; the damage to the controls has in fact only been minor. What we told you earlier was in fact incorrect. What we had taken for massive damage has mostly been superficial; we only had one damaged system which we have replaced with a new one, the panic caused by the attack by the androids has turned trained men into scared schoolboys. We saw damage where there wasn`t any, and as soon as we got to work we realised this, I am reducing the power output back to normal levels Colonel, and you should see the results immediately.”
The deafening noise that echoed around the main reactor room, seeming like the roars from an enraged monster, began to slowly subside, the dials on the console swung round to their more normal positions, the amount of energy leaving the reactor was now dropping, soon the technicians would once again be able to breath normally.