The spaceship that had disappeared eighty years before had been found in the system of the black sun, a system that had formerly been unknown and had been regarded as a dark cloud.
An examination of the interior of the spaceship did not tell them what had happened to the ship’s crew. The oxygen reservoirs were not empty, there were supplies of food and water sufficient for several years but nowhere was there any trace or any remains of Parus’ crew.
Here and there in the corridors, in the control tower and in the library there were strange dark stains on the walls. On the library floor there was another stain that looked as though something that had been spilled there had dried in a warped film of several layers. Before the open door in the after bulkhead of the stern engine room, wires had been torn apart and were hanging down, the massive uprights of the cooling system, made of phosphor-bronze, had been badly bent. Everything else in the ship was in perfect condition so that this damage, caused by a blow of tremendous force, could not be explained. The explorers were becoming exhausted by their efforts but were unable to find anything that would explain the disappearance and undoubted loss of Parus’ crew.
They did, however, make another discovery, one of the greatest importance — the supplies of anameson fuel and ion charges for the planetary motors were sufficient for the take-off of Tantra and for the journey back to Earth.
This information was immediately transmitted to Tantra and relieved all members of the expedition of that feeling of doom that had possessed them since their spaceship had been captured by the iron star. Nor would they have to carry out the lengthy work necessary to transmit a message to Earth. There would be, however, the tremendous task of transferring the anameson containers to Tantra. This would not have been an easy task anywhere, but there, on a planet where everything weighed three times as much as on Earth, it would require all the skill and ingenuity of the engineers. People of the Great Circle Era, however, were not afraid of difficult mental problems; on the contrary, they enjoyed them.
From the tape recorder in the central control tower the biologist removed the unfinished spool of the ship’s log-book. Erg Noor and the biologist opened the door of the hermetically sealed main safe where the results of the Parus expedition were kept. The members of the expedition were burdened down with a heavy weight of numerous spools of photo-magnetic films, log-books, astronomical observations and computations. They were explorers themselves and could not dream of leaving such a valuable find even for a moment.
Dead tired the explorers were met in Tantra’s library by their excited and impatient comrades. In surroundings to which they were accustomed, seated around a comfortable table under bright lights, the tomb-like gloom of the black world outside and the dead, abandoned spaceship seemed like a gruesome nightmare. Nevertheless the force of gravity of that awful planet continued to crush every one of them and from time to time one or another of the explorers would grimace with pain on making some movement. It had been very difficult, without considerable practice, to coordinate the movements of the body with those of the “steel skeleton” so that an ordinary walk became a series of jerks and severe shakings. The short journey to Parus and back had completely exhausted them. Geologist Beena Ledd was apparently suffering from a slight concussion of the brain, but she refused to go away before she had heard the last spool of the ship’s log-book and remained leaning on the table with her hands pressed to her temples. Nisa expected something extraordinary from the records that had lain for eighty years in a dead ship on that horrid planet. She imagined hoarse appeals for help, howls of a suffering, tragic words of farewell. The girl shuddered when a cold, melodious voice came from the reproducer. Even Erg Noor, a man who possessed great knowledge of everything connected with interstellar flights, knew nothing of the crew of Parus. The crew had been made up exclusively of young people and had set out on their fantastically courageous journey to Vega without giving the Astronautical Council the usual film about the members of the crew.
The unknown voice reported events that occurred seven months after the last message had been sent to Earth. Twenty-five years before that, in crossing a Cosmic ice zone on the fringe of the Vega system, Parus had been damaged. The crew managed to patch the hole in the ship’s stern and continue their journey but it nevertheless upset the delicate regulation of the protective field of the motors. After a struggle that lasted twenty years they had had to stop the engines. Parus continued going five years by inertia until she was pulled aside by a natural inaccuracy in the ship’s course. That was when the first message had been sent. The spaceship was about to send another message when she was caught in the field of the iron star. Then the same thing happened to Parus as had happened to Tantra with the difference that Parus was without motors and had been unable to resist. Nor could Parus become a satellite of the black planet since the planetary motors, housed in the vessel’s stern, had been wrecked at the same time as the anameson motors. Parus landed safely on a low plateau near the sea. The crew set about carrying out three tasks of importance: the repair of the motors, the transmission of a message to Earth and the study of the unknown planet. Before they had time to erect a rocket tower people began to disappear mysteriously.
Those sent out to look for them did not return. The exploration of the planet ceased, the remainder of the crew went out to the rocket tower only in a group and for the long periods between spells of work that the strong force of gravity made extremely exhausting, they remained in the tightly sealed spaceship. In their hurry to send off the rocket they had not even studied the strange spaceship in the vicinity of Parus that had, apparently, been there a long time.
“That disc!” flashed through Nisa’s mind. She met the commander’s glance and he, understanding her thoughts, nodded in affirmation. Six out of the fourteen of Parus’ crew had disappeared but after the necessary measures had been taken the disappearances stopped. There then followed a break of about three days in the log-book and the story was taken up by a young woman’s high-pitched voice.
“Today is the twelfth day of the seventh month, year 723 of the Great Circle, and we who have remained alive have completed the construction of the rocket transmitter. Tomorrow at this time….”
Kay Bear glanced instinctively at the time gradations along the tape — 5 a. m. Parus time, and who could know what time that would be on this planet!
“We are sending a reliably computed…” the voice broke off and then began again, this time weaker and suppressed, as though the speaker had turned away from the microphone, “… I am switching on! More!” The tape-recorder was silent although the tape continued to unwind.
“Something must have happened!” began Ingrid Dietra.
Hurried, choking words came from the tape-recorder. ‘“… two got away… Laik is gone, she didn’t jump far enough… the lift… they couldn’t shut the outside door, only the inside one! Mechanic Sach Kthon has crawled to the engines… we’ll start the planetary motors going… there is nothing to them but fury and horror, they are nothing! Yes, nothing…” for some time the tape unwound in silence, then the same voice began again.
“I don’t think Kthon managed it. I’m alone, but I’ve thought of what to do. Before I begin,” the voice grew stronger and then sounded with amazing strength, “Brothers, if you find Parus, take heed of my warning, never leave the ship at all.” The woman who was speaking heaved a deep sigh and said, as though talking to herself, “I must find out about Kthon, I’ll come back and explain in detail.” Then came a click and the tape continued to unwind for about twenty minutes before it reached the end. The eager listeners waited in vain, the unknown woman had been unable to give any further details just as she had probably been unable to return.