Chapter Twenty – Surprise Discovery
Carrie opened each door with the magnetic field neutraliser. There were rooms full of metals, plastics, unrecognisable materials and what might have been tools, and rooms stocked with the matte black boxes they had seen in the entrance bay, but no placktoids.
One room they entered contained a pair of large doors set into the floor. Carrie tried using the neutraliser on them but they remained closed. Each door had a handle, and Carrie pulled on one. The door lifted a fraction. She peeked through the gap, but it was too dark to see inside.
“What’s in there, do you think, Gavin?”
The creature’s feelers twitched. “I do not recall this feature in placktoid ship design. As with the holding cell in which you and your companion were confined, it must have been added after manufacture.”
“Could the placktoids be down there?”
“Not all of them,” said Dave, “half of them wouldn’t fit through that hole. Unless there’s another entrance somewhere.”
“It is unlikely there are any placktoids in an unlit area,” said Gavin. “It is odd that magnetism is not being used to holding the doors closed. The fact implies they are not normally left open in the same way as the others on the ship. Perhaps it is a safety feature.”
“I can’t lift them. They’re too heavy,” said Carrie.
“There must have been an opening mechanism that is now disabled. And placktoids are generally much stronger than humans,” said Gavin.
“What do we do, then?” asked Dave.
“Let us search the rest of this section,” said Gavin. “Perhaps placktoids are close by.”
The group returned to the corridor of closed doors.
“Belinda, what’s the story behind all this?” asked Dave as they continued their search. “How come you’re doing this job? You said before you’re a banker. How did you find out about life on other planets?”
“You mean you don’t know about what goes on in the galaxy?” said Belinda. She nodded. “It all makes sense now. You’re strays.”
“Do you have to be so rude?” said Carrie.
“Ugh, not in that sense, though...” She looked down her nose at Carrie, who glared at her. “I mean you strayed from Earth. Look, there’s a small number of humans who are aware of extraterrestrial life, and a large number who haven’t a clue. You belong to the latter, don’t you?”
Carrie pinched her lips together.
“Well, I certainly had no idea about any of this until I got sucked under Carrie’s sink,” said Dave.
“It isn’t as big a secret as you might imagine,” said Belinda. “The Transgalactic Council made contact with world leaders decades ago, but until we develop intragalactic travel, Earth is barred from joining the Unity.”
Dave was open-mouthed. “Why haven’t they told us?”
“I’m not sure why the leaders keep quiet about it. Maybe they’re worried it will make them unpopular if people know the galaxy is teeming with life but they can’t go there or have anything to do with it. And the opposing political parties can’t come up with the goods either, so they also don’t say anything.”
“But surely they should pour all their resources into developing space travel?” said Dave.
Belinda shrugged. “Budgets have to be accounted for. But I think the scientists are getting close, finally.”
Carrie’s curiosity overcame her reluctance to speak to Belinda. “So how did you get this job?”
“The Council likes to recruit humans as Liaison Officers because we have no history of conflicts or alliances with other species. Without any baggage, we’re trusted to be neutral. I say ‘we’ but in fact I’m half dandrobian.” She smiled smugly.
“You’re...?”
“Can’t you tell?” Belinda drew herself up to her full height. Tossing her tawny mane over her shoulder, she turned her head from side to side. She dropped her pose. “Hmpf, of course you can’t. You’ve never met a dandrobian have you?”
“If I might interrupt?” said Gavin. They had come to the end of the section. “I suggest we check what is behind the non-magnetised doors we found earlier before we move on. What is the saying in English? We should leave no stone unturned. There is a small possibility there may be a placktoid in there who can inform us where the rest have gone.”
They returned to the room, and Belinda took hold of one of the door handles.
“Hold on,” said Dave, “maybe there’s a reason those doors are closed.”
“I cannot imagine why,” said Gavin. “The placktoids have nothing to fear aboard their own ship.”
Belinda grunted, and the door lifted an inch. “Damn, this is heavy.”
Dave lent a hand, and the door began to slowly open. In the area beneath, all was dark. The meagre deep red emergency lighting didn’t penetrate. When the door was halfway open, Gavin said, “There is something in there. I can hear movement.”
Dave and Belinda heaved the door up until it was past vertical, then stepped back to let it fall open. Dave shook his head as the door clanged to the floor.
“I can hear something, too,” said Carrie. There was a metallic rustling and swishing. It reminded her of something but she couldn’t think what. Dave went to the room entrance, where he lingered. The other three looked into the shadowy interior.
“I know,” exclaimed Belinda. She rummaged in her bag.
“Have you got some kind of detection instrument?” asked Carrie.
“Sort of.” Belinda pulled a long, cylindrical object from the bag, and flipped a switch. A beam of light shone out. “It’s called a torch.” She angled the light into the hole. “Well, I never.”
Carrie and Gavin peered in.
“Most odd,” said Gavin. In the circle of light from the torch, hundreds of small paperclips shifted and glinted. They were five or six times the size of their inanimate Earth cousins.
“Dave,” called Carrie, straightening up, “you were right. There are baby paperclips.” She looked again into the hole in floor. “Woah.” The paperclips were rising and floating towards them along the beam of light. “Errmmm...” She took a step back. The lead paperclip had reached the edge of the hole, and continued to rise. As it drew level with her eyes, it changed direction and zoomed into her face, hitting her between the eyes. “Ow,” she cried, “they’re attacking.” More paperclips were gliding out of the hole. Another one hit her, and another.
Carrie was forced to close her eyes and cover her face. She gave out little squeaks as the placktoid onslaught continued against her hands and the rest of her body.