'Let's investigate,' said Trevor. 'We can't let aliens mess about with our planet and get away with it.'
Russell gazed at his brother and shook his head. 'Are you suggesting you want to fly up into outer space in this Cloud contraption and take a closer look?'
'Yes, that's exactly what I think we should do.'
'We?'
'Yes, you and me, the Cloud brothers, daring young men, pioneers, soaring through space and saving our planet. Heroes.'
'No way. Absolutely not. I'll agree you've built something fantastic here, but you can't simply fly off into outer space. How do you know it'll work up there?'
'I know it'll work because I've designed it to work. Don't you trust my capabilities?'
'It's too risky. Theories are one thing, putting our lives at risk is something totally different.'
'Come on,' said Trevor, taking hold of the joysticks. 'One little peek at the aliens.'
'No!' said Russell. 'Take your hands off those joysticks or I'll brake your wrists.'
Trevor sat back and sighed. 'Perhaps you're right,' he said. 'Listen, Russell, maybe we should put the Cloud through some tests before we go into space, you know, put the Cloud through its paces. Will you come into space if I prove its worthiness?'
'What do you have in mind?' asked Russell, knowing how devious his brother could be.
'Where would you like to go?'
Russell rubbed his brow. 'Can we leave the walls up, or do we have to fly around suspended in loose air? I agree with the professor, it feels worse than a roller coaster ride.'
'Yes,' said Trevor. 'It is a bit alarming.' He pressed a key on his laptop and the walls disappeared. 'The trouble is, I need to see where I'm going. Try sitting, you might find that feels better.'
'Does it have to be all or nothing?' said Russell, making himself comfortable. 'What I mean is–can't we at least have a visible floor to stand on, perhaps even a low wall around the sides?'
'It'll take a bit of extra programming,' said Trevor, 'but yes, I can do that. Good idea really, it'll be like standing on a ship's bridge. Now then, stop changing the subject, where do you want to go?'
'How about flying nice and easy back to the woods, so you can fix us a floor before we gallivant off some place?'
'No, no, no,' said Trevor. 'It won't take me long to fix that. Do you know what I fancy?'
Russell shook his head. 'I'm not sure I want to know. How about cruising home and dropping me off there, then you can test it all you want. In fact, you can drop me off here.'
'I've always fancied a trip under the ocean,' said Trevor, ignoring his brother. 'This'll be great, make yourself comfortable and enjoy the ride. A dip under water will soon reveal how air tight the Cloud is.' A twitch of his right-hand joystick sent the Cloud catapulting into the sky. People, cars, trees and houses shrunk to ant size. Within seconds, the whole of London town shrivelled into the surrounding countryside. Another twitch sent the Cloud hurtling forward, breaking the sound barrier ten times in rapid succession.
Russell dug his fingers into the armrests and stared wide-eyed. He slammed his eyes shut and braced every muscle until he felt faint. Suddenly, he realised something was amiss. 'I can't feel any movement,' he said through clenched teeth. With a jolt, he realised why and relaxed. 'We're not moving at all, are we? You're running a film and we're still sitting on the ground; ha, ha! Good one, you had me going there.'
With a cheeky smile, Trevor turned to face his brother. 'You can't feel movement because it's compensated for. There's a false gravity in here, a pseudo-gravity. We're travelling at about twelve thousand kilometres per hour, which means we'll be over the Pacific Ocean in an hour or so.'
'Hmm,' said Russell, not fully convinced. 'But then again, there's no sensation of movement in a high-flying aeroplane either.' He peeked between his feet to the ground far below. 'Must be the same view from a hang-glider or parachute. Who knows, with time I might get used to it, I might even find it enjoyable. One hour just gives us time to eat something.'
'We're higher than air traffic so we shouldn't bump into anything, but even so, I'd better keep an eye on things here, so why don't you make us some sandwiches and bring them back here?'
Russell jumped up, swaggered bravely to the door and entered the hall beyond. Sighing with relief, he leaned his back against the closed door and waited while his limbs stopped shaking. Everything appeared normal away from the control room, and if he didn't know better, he could easily imagine they were sitting quietly on the ground.
A wide flight of stairs led down to the basement, another led up to his own apartment, but Russell crossed the hall, entered Trevor's apartment and made straight for the kitchen. He glanced through the window and frowned at the clear blue sky.
Russell knew the window was only a monitor, and the view a projection, but the effect was so lifelike he couldn't tell the difference between that and the real thing. He picked up a remote control and flicked a few buttons, swapping the sky for an image of Trevor's woods at home. Nodding in satisfaction, he found it practically impossible to believe they were shooting across the sky at goodness knows what speed.
Not wanting to hurry back, he sat on a high stool and looked around Trevor's kitchen. The words "scientifically functional" crossed his mind. It had taken almost five months to fit out the Cloud, and Trevor's choice of furnishing made his apartment stark and cold. In Russell's own apartment on the floor above, he'd used warm wood, curved edges, and soft comfy furniture.
He found a large tray and buried it under food. Sandwiches filled with an oozing assortment of cheese, pickle, sliced meat, and peanut butter soon wobbled precariously. Two steaming mugs of tea stood beside the biscuit barrel, and with mild persuasion, he found room for a milk jug, sugar bowl and jam pot.
Russell carried his precious load back to the control room. Nothing had changed except the view beneath them–dark blue sea covered the entire panorama.
'Strange,' said Trevor, rubbing his hands with delight at the sight of food.
'What's strange?'
Trevor grabbed a sandwich and pressed half in his mouth. Without chewing, he swallowed. 'I haven't seen a cloud. We've travelled halfway across the world and I haven't seen a single cloud.'
'Is that the Pacific below us?' asked Russell. 'I was only away a half hour, are we here already?'
'Yes. I got bored so I put my foot down. Did you hear what I said about the clouds?'
'Must be some truth with what the professor told us. This weird weather is all they're talking about on the radio. They're saying amateur astronomers have found a glistening object in the outer atmosphere which looks like a splinter of glass, and they're tying the two phenomena together.'
'A splinter of glass?' said Trevor, taking the next sandwich on the pile. This time, he chewed thoughtfully. 'Hmm, means they've discovered the aliens.'
'Yeah, more than one group of freaks are predicting death and annihilation at the mercy of aliens. But the world's governments refute every such speculation. The official story is that the Chinese are building a space telescope out there, and the Chinese won't admit it–or deny it.' Russell shrugged. 'I haven't given it much thought really. At the moment, I'm more worried about what you're planning to do. This Cloud invention of yours isn't going to short-circuit in water, is it, or burst like a bubble?'
'We'll see,' said Trevor, grinning at his brother's misgivings. 'Let's go down and hover above the surface while we finish our tea and watch the sun rise.'
The ocean expanded and rushed towards them at horrendous speed. Trevor brought the Cloud to a standstill ten metres above the surface. 'There. Perfect timing,' he said, and took another sandwich.
They had left England in the evening, but on this side of the planet the early morning sun was hidden below the horizon, making everything appear navy blue and dull. Russell spotted an island in the semi-dark, nothing more than a low bump on the horizon with a few palm trees sprouting here and there. He took another sandwich from the depleting pile, wrapped his left hand around the warm tea mug, and leaned back in his chair.
Captivated by the scene, the two brothers finished their breakfast in silence. The sun peeked over the horizon, sending red light trailing towards them. Soon, the cloudless horizon blazed in hues of orange and yellow, brightening the morning sky. Then the sun rose rapidly, and a sudden breeze ruffled the sea surface.
'I know you're in a hurry to dive,' said Russell, breaking the spell, 'but let's take it easy, eh?'
'The sea isn't very deep just here,' said Trevor, nodding, 'so we'll drop in slow and easy.'
They moved downwards, pushing aside the watery surface, exposing the marine world in all its glory. The sea level rose, lapping against invisible walls, then slid over their heads, veiling the world of fresh air. It appeared as if nothing separated them from the sea, and despite Trevor's reassurance the walls were infinitely strong, Russell shuddered at the thought of them caving in.
They sank to a depth of ten metres and stopped one metre above the sandy bottom. The sunlight was strong at this depth, and white sand glistened brightly. The clean seawater, as clear as fresh air, allowed them to spot fish a hundred metres away. Beyond that, everything turned blue and opaque. Above them, they could see the rippled sea surface, breaking the sun's rays into endless shimmering cascades.
'What about air?' asked Russell. 'We're not going to suffocate, are we?'
Trevor chuckled. 'Dear brother. The floor below us is filled with machinery, gadgets, batteries, workshop, garage, and food stores. Part of the junk down there is our life support system.'
'How does it work?'
'My word,' said Trevor, 'you are worried. To put it simply, we split water molecules into hydrogen gas and oxygen gas. It's a simple process of electrolysis. The poisonous carbon dioxide we exhale is sieved and mixed with the hydrogen, which makes more water. There, are you happy now?'
'What happens if it conks out?'
'It won't. But if it does, we've plenty of oxygen in gas cylinders.'
Trevor sniffed the air, then took a deep breath. 'Well, it seems all right at the moment. Come on, let's explore.'
For quarter of an hour, they skimmed over fine smooth sand, heading towards the island. They reached a coral bank and spent a while watching colourful fish swim amongst gently swaying sea-plants and magnificent sea anemone. Then, turning away from the coral, they swung left and headed towards the open sea. Without warning, the endless plain of sand came to an abrupt end and an underwater cliff edge loomed before them. As the black abyss opened, the brothers drew deep breaths and grasped firmly onto their chairs.
Trevor fumbled with a pile of paper on his desk and dragged a sea map to the top. 'According to this,' he said, pointing with a shaky finger, 'this gulf goes down to a depth of approximately ten kilometres.'
'Well, we can't go down there, so let's get out of it,' said Russell.
Trevor spun in his office chair to face Russell and slapped his hands on his knees, all traces of fright replaced by eyes that gleamed. 'I'd like to try. It'll be a proper test.'
'Won't the water pressure crush us to death? And anyway, how can you force this gigantic air bubble to go down?'
'Let's submerge to a depth of one hundred metres and see what happens,' said Trevor, turning back to his joysticks and ignoring his brother's groan.
Smoothly, rapidly, the powder blue surface water dimmed to a murky indigo. At one hundred metres, the sun's distant rays still glistened faintly. 'The pressure outside is now about ten atmospheres,' said Trevor. 'This is peanuts. Let's try one thousand metres.'
As they sank deeper, all sunlight faded out and their surroundings grew darker until pitch-blackness reigned, a big bubble lit by subdued lighting, containing two fragile humans who dared to challenge the crushing weight of the deepest ocean.
Trevor turned off their lights and turned on the searchlights. Attracted by the lights, hundreds of colourful fish escorted the Cloud, matching their speed with ease.
'There is a force working against us,' said Trevor, 'trying to push us to the surface. This force represents an energy that the Cloud captures and utilises. In effect, the upward force is neutralised, and all I have to do is add a little energy to tip the balance. It's the same with the pressure, the more it wants to crush us, the more power we have to resist it. Now let's stop messing about and give it a serious test…'
They moved through a silent world of darkness, alone now as they slid into deeper water. Nothing could be seen beyond the floodlight's radiance, making it impossible to discern movement. There was no stir, no sound of any kind. Only a display of ever-ascending digits on Trevor's computer gave evidence of their never-ending descent into the pressing, awesome, depths.
The grandfather clock ticked unconcerned, counting out the seconds as the anxious brothers glared into the gulf below. Even with the floodlights, the illusion of motionlessness was preserved. There was nothing in the water to mark their progress. They might have been floating in the black void of space.
'There it is,' pointed Russell, blinking into the haze and smiling with relief. A rugged landscape of sharp stones manifested, devoid of life and ghostly. Trevor brought them to a stop three metres above a high rock.
'Here we are,' said Trevor. 'Nine thousand, eight hundred and forty-two metres. Wow, this is fantastic, nobody else has ever been this deep before. We're pioneers. Heroes. And you're remarkably brave, my dear brother, to participate on such a daring expedition.'
'But you told me it was totally safe,' said Russell, 'are you now telling me there's an element of danger?'
'Who can tell? All my calculations tell me there's no danger–but calculations are only as accurate as the data you put into them. Looks like I'm right though, doesn't it? And this is nothing, according to my calculations this wonderful Cloud is totally indestructible.'
Russell wondered how his otherwise timid brother could sit there so calmly. 'You've been so occupied with your calculations that you haven't had time to be nervous,' he said. 'Earlier today I had acrophobia, and now I've got claustrophobia. These extremes of height and confinement test my panic tolerance to the limit. Aren't you worried at all?'
'Like sitting in a fish bowl, isn't it?' said Trevor. 'With us on the inside. Actually, we're not looking through glass, we're looking at a holographic projection, just like the windows in our apartments.'
Concentrate as he may, Russell found it impossible to tell where air ended and water began. 'You're exhausted,' he said after a moment. 'You've started blabbering. How about taking us out of here so we can get some sleep? This isn't much to look at, is it? Must be what it looks like on the moon–except a bit wetter.'
'You go and lay down,' said Trevor. 'I'd like to hang about here a while, I'd like to test the life support system properly. Go on, we're quite safe. When I'm content everything is working satisfactory I'll grab a doze.'
Russell yawned, stretched his joints until they creaked, and left the eerie room. To allow his mind time to unwind and slow down, he stopped often on the broad, thick-carpeted stairway. He admired the paintings hanging there–he smiled, most of them were "borrowed" from their parent's stately house. On the top landing, he patted a full-size statue of Happy Buddha on his bald head. The Happy Buddha always cheered his mood. He entered his apartment, sniffed the clean air and sighed with satisfaction. He felt warm, relaxed, and already lost in a dream. He stretched out on the sofa and fell fast asleep.
In his control room, Trevor pushed his chair back, raised his feet to the desktop, and snored.
As the two brothers slept, the Cloud sat effortlessly on the ocean bed, almost ten thousand metres below the surface with its life support systems working perfectly, and its shell of indestructible energy operating with an automated intelligence all of its own.
~*~
The aroma of egg and bacon roused Trevor from sleep. Wincing with pain, he lifted his stiff legs from the desk and sat up. He checked the computer for problems, found none, groaned to his feet, and limped in search of the food.
'Ah! There you are. Good morning, dear brother,' said Russell as he adjusted the finishing touches to the breakfast table. 'Just like being at home, isn't it. Who would think we were ten thousand metres under the sea? Tea?'
'It feels like I haven't eaten for a week,' complained Trevor. 'What have you got there?'
'I've got plenty of food, so tuck in.'
Trevor's cosy little clearing in the woods was framed in the windows, vivid and alive. 'It's easy to imagine we're still at home,' said Russell. 'I don't know how you've done it, but all this is fantastic.'
'Thank you,' mumbled Trevor, his mouth full of bacon and sausage. 'It's all done with mirrors, isn't that what they say?'
'You're not trying to trick me, are you? You haven't flown us home in the night, have you?'
'I haven't done anything except sleep all night. No, we're still submerged, with one thousand atmospheres trying to squeeze the life out of us.'
'Hmm! Don't you think we should leave while we're still alive?' said Russell. He broke two eggs into the frying pan and tossed bread in the toaster.
Their knives and forks flashed until Trevor pushed his half-eaten breakfast away and sighed. 'Do you remember what you said about it looking like the surface of the moon out there?'
'Yes, I remember saying that.'
'Well, I've finished my tests,' said Trevor, fingering a crust of toast, 'and I've done some calculations and it shouldn't be a problem.'
'What?' asked Russell, afraid he knew the answer.
'Let's go to the moon.'
Russell's knife and fork hung suspended above his plate. 'Have we time to finish breakfast?'
'Good! You finish off and I'll get things ready in the control room.'
'You want to have a look at that alien, don't you?' said Russell, utensils still poised.
'It wouldn't hurt to have a peek. We'll keep our distance and remain invisible.'
Russell laid his knife and fork on the table and looked at his brother. 'Actually, I've been thinking along the same lines and I'm starting to feel quite safe in the Cloud. Take us to the moon if that's what you wish. On the way back we can check out the aliens. Just give me time to finish my breakfast.'
Trevor crushed his serviette and threw it onto the table. He hurried out of the room, leaving his brother to finish eating and tidy away.
~*~
Satisfied his apartment was clean and tidy, Russell made his way down to the control room. Unlike his brother, he didn't hurry; he shared the same pioneering enthusiasm but preferred to let life take its own course, ride on the current, and solve problems as they occurred. He settled into his office chair in the control room and gazed outside. Nothing had changed. Their lights exposed a grey and featureless landscape, and an oppressive blackness, dense as black ink, hung above them.
'Are you ready?' asked Trevor.
'Let's get out of here before I turn bananas. I sincerely hope I never have to see this place again. Just look at that emptiness above us, no stars, no moon, and no snug layer of cloud. Keep your speed down, we don't want our wake to kill or hurt some plant or animal on the way up.'
Trevor twiddled his control levers and the Cloud eased away from the sea bed.
'We won't get the bends or anything like that, will we?' asked Russell.
'No, the pressure in here is always the same no matter what. Relax and enjoy the ride.'
The brothers watched spellbound as fish began to appear, few at first without much colour, but increasing in number and size as they neared the surface. Then sunlight began to filter through, and the number of fish dwindled and disappeared. Accelerating the Cloud through the last few metres of water, they burst through the surface into brilliant sunshine and clear blue skies.
'Same old weather,' observed Russell. 'Not a cloud in sight.'
The Cloud rose rapidly, and the brothers watched in silence as the horizon bent. The sky turned indigo, then violet, then black. Not blackness like the ocean bed, not even the blackness of a clear night where the stars are no more than glimmering pinpricks. High above the atmosphere, the brothers were surrounded by a billion distant suns and galaxies, intense, vivid and welcoming.
'Wow,' whispered Russell. 'I thought space was supposed to be empty, but just look at all those stars. And look at the world below us. It seems so calm, so peaceful. How small each person's troubles are when you see the planet from this distance.'
'How philosophical you've become all of a sudden,' said Trevor, eyes as glassy as his brother's. 'But pull yourself together and look out for the moon.'
'Don't you know where the moon is?' asked Russell, instinctively looking up. 'Don't you know the direction?'
'I haven't plotted in any co-ordinates if that's what you mean. As soon as I see it, I'll steer towards it. Ah! There it is, rising behind the earth.'
The half moon crept out of hiding, clearer and brighter than the boys could ever imagine.
'How long will it take us to get there?' sad Russell. 'Doesn't it take several days?'
'Well, if we travel at the speed of light it will take us less than two seconds. But I don't think we're in that much of a hurry, are we?'
As Trevor spoke, he manoeuvred the Cloud around the earth until the moon was directly in front. With firm pressure, he pressed his right-hand joystick forward. Ahead, the moon grew in size like a balloon being pumped with air, and behind them, the earth shrunk, as if punctured.
'From the earth to the moon,' said Trevor, glancing at the grandfather clock, 'in five minutes and twenty seconds. That's not bad, is it? Do you think we can find the spot where Neil Armstrong took "one small step"? It won't be easy to find, they only left a flag and a pile of rubbish.'
'Seems every major nation on Earth has all sorts of contraptions crawling over the moon these days,' said Russell. 'Let's forget about them and take a look at the dark side.'
'There is no dark side. There is a near side and a far side, and the near side is always facing Earth, but the far side has as much sunlight as any other part of the moon.'
'I didn't know that. Very well then, let's have a look at the far side.'
They skimmed across the moon's smooth plains, only rising at the poles to fly over highland craters. The whole surface was covered in a thick layer of fine dark dust and rocky debris.
'What a peculiar sensation,' said Russell. 'Here we are, gliding across the moon with apparently nothing more than our reclining chairs beneath us, dressed in our tee-shirts, and behaving as if it was the most natural thing in the world.'
'Yes,' said Trevor, a quake in his voice. 'Were getting used to it, aren't we? Who would have thought it possible?'
Russell hugged himself and doubted his legs would carry him if he tried to stand. Even his vocal chords had trouble functioning in his knotted throat. He swallowed twice before they responded. 'The dust is a lot darker than I expected,' he said, hoping his mundane comment would help him relax. 'From Earth, it looks silvery grey, but up this close it's almost as dark as charcoal.'
'The moon reflects the sun's rays because it's surface is mostly as flat as a pancake. Don't forget, there's no atmosphere or weather here, so there's nothing to disturb the dust; except when a meteor impacts–which causes the dust in the first place.'
'Not much different from the bottom of the sea, is it?' said Russell. 'Just as dreary. Nothing but grey dust, boulders and craters. Take a look at the earth though, what a beautiful sight–home sweet home.'
Trevor brought them to a standstill facing Mother Earth.
'Get a bit closer,' said Russell. 'There's something strange about the old girl.'
'Oh I don't know.' Trevor leaned back in his chair, head flopped to one side. 'The sea is blue, the land is patchy green and brown. Ice on both poles and the highest mountains, what's strange about that?'
'There aren't any clouds. Or at least, not many. Too few, far too few.'
'Yes, that's true,' agreed Trevor. 'Look how they whirl towards one point. Shall we move closer and take a look?'
'Yes, let's. That's probably where the aliens are siphoning off our water vapour. You take us closer, I'll fetch my camera.'
Trevor gazed at his brother a moment and let his shoulders slump forward. 'I wonder if we should get mixed up in this,' he said. 'Let's sneak back and tell the professor what we've seen.'
'Oh no you don't,' said Russell. 'We haven't seen anything yet. Let's take a closer look.'
'But it might be dangerous.'
'Dear brother, what are you worried about? Haven't you demonstrated the wonders of your machine? It's indestructible. You've managed to persuade me into coming along on your "tests", now let's do something useful. Aren't you curious? If you want to sneak somewhere, then sneak alongside that alien spaceship and see what's going on. The least we can do is give an accurate report to the professor and take some decent photographs.'
Trevor drummed his fingers and puffed air through his nostrils. He pulled open a drawer and lifted out a pair of binoculars. He peered into the distance, adjusted the lenses, and tossed the useless binoculars onto his desk. 'There is an element of uncertainty. How advanced are these aliens? To them, the Cloud might be as primitive as our clockwork grandfather clock…'
'The lost space shuttle Wayfarer might have seemed primitive, but surely the Cloud is more advanced than that?'
'In theory, the Cloud is indestructible. However, the rules, ideas, principles, and techniques that apply to the Cloud may not necessarily be relevant to a far superior intelligence.'
'When you talk like that,' said Russell, 'you make me nervous. But we have to take a chance. They won't expect anything to creep up on them from outer space. Move in slowly and keep your finger on the reverse button.'
Trevor bit his lip and glanced at Russell to see if he was serious. 'Oh all right,' he said. 'But at the first sign of trouble, we leave, and leave fast.' With taut fingers, he steered the Cloud towards Earth, manoeuvring them to the spot where the clouds were caught up in a swirling spiral.
'Look at that,' said Russell, pointing to a glistening crystal orbiting Earth. He picked up the binoculars and held them to his eyes. 'It looks like an iceberg–must be the size of Mount Everest. That's what they're doing with our water–siphoning it off and storing it in a huge iceberg.'
'Probably collecting it here ready for transport,' said Trevor. 'Let's leave.'
'Hang on a moment. Take us closer. There's something moving across the iceberg, perhaps it's the alien spaceship.'
Excited by the prospect of actually seeing an alien spaceship, Trevor swallowed his concern and edged closer. From the spaceship's rear, a vapour filament reached down into Earth's atmosphere like a long straw. And from the spaceship's side, fine ice crystals curled down to the iceberg like a moth larva spinning a cocoon.
'Let me take some pictures before we go any closer,' said Russell.
'Closer? Aren't we close enough?'
'They obviously don't know we're here, so get as close as you can and I'll take some close-ups.'
After a good scratch on the back of his neck, Trevor sighed deeply and guided the Cloud alongside the alien spaceship, tagging along as it drifted around the ice mountain.
'They must be asleep in there,' said Trevor, tightening his jaw muscles. 'Surely their instruments are sensitive enough to detect us.'
'They're not expecting something like the Cloud,' said Russell. 'They're not bothering with a lookout. Won't the professor be excited when he sees these photographs; aren't you excited? This is the first encounter with extra-terrestrials, your name will go down in history.'
'I'm too nervous to be excited. Suppose they're hostile?'
'We're indestructible,' said Russell, snapping photographs in rapid succession. The alien spaceship incorporated two bulbous parts, one much larger than the other. Even the smaller part was four times bigger than the Cloud.
'The two parts are separate,' commented Trevor. 'It looks as though that large part at the back is a factory, gathering and processing moisture from the earth; while the small part is control room and living quarters. I expect the two parts can detach when necessary. Are you satisfied now? Can we get out of here?'
'Yes. Get away. Hurry,' shouted Russell.
'What's the sudden panic?' said Trevor, snatching at his joysticks, hurtling them back towards the moon.
'Look down there.'
A mi