Listeners within

Written by Michael Lynch word count 1460

THE LISTENERS WITHIN.
Adapted from Walter de la Mere's
The Listeners.

It was a desolate landscape, set on which planet, it is not important.
A dark sky dotted with strange stars and planets. Set amid all this
desolation was a solitary structure, part of it in ruins. This was a
legacy from the thermo-nuclear war that had ravaged the planet for
decades. A hot wind was getting up and blowing the loose dust about. If
one strained their eyes through the dust laden atmosphere, they could
make out in the distance the outlines of a ruined city. Occasionally
there would be explosions. Since the Nuclear conflagration between the
two super powers, there had been war between the city dwellers and the
outlanders. The outlanders were the beings that dwelt in the desolated
hills and valleys. The city dwellers were the mutated remnants of a
once intelligent civilisation.

Occasionally these beings would venture out into the wasteland and see
what they could pillage. They were also interested in the solitary
building, it was unlike any they had seen in the city. Also part of it
bore the evidence of nuclear blast, whilst the other part looked as if
it had just been built. This puzzled many of the City Dwellers and
Outlanders too. Many had thought, how had this part of the building
been spared the nuclear blasts that had ravaged this part of the
planet. Transport was a problem too, this was one of the reasons the
two factions were always fighting. The outlanders had managed to find
several arms dumps containing low power nuclear weapons. They were
using these on the city dwellers. The City Dwellers had, however found
transport that had not been affected by the nuclear attacks. Their
weaponry consisted of several outdated conventional howitzers and an
arsenal of hand weapons. The result of the two factions struggling to
get control of each others weapons and transport had finally finished
what the super powers had failed to do, leave a desolated planet, void
of vegetation and with an atmosphere polluted with radiation.

It was to this solitary building that a lone being arrived. Somehow he
had been guided to this spot, not knowing why, just knowing that here
was the answer he had been seeking. The stranger didn't look at all
like the City Dwellers or the Outlanders. He had no mutations on his
body such as the City beings had and he looked too intelligent to be an
Outlander. His attire was also different, not raggedy like the
survivors of the nuclear wars. He was dressed in a metallic type suit
with strange insignia emblazoned on his arms and shoulders. If anyone
had seen the stranger's arrival they would have thought it strange. He
didn't actually arrive, it was more like he had happened. He had simply
materialised, from where no one could tell.
Lexus paused in front of the building, studying it closer he found it
to be totally sealed. He knew deep down that he should be here but why
he couldn't figure out. He also knew that he was expected, by whom he
did not know. He rapped on the surface, it gave off a hollow sound,
nothing else though.
He looked around him and shouted. " Allooooooo in there, can you hear
me?". Silence, He tried again a little louder. " Alloooooooo, can you
hear me in there, how do I get in?".
Still no reply from within, he took a cylindrically shaped object from
his belt. Holding it to the wall he switched it on, a high pitched
sound was emitted. He held it there for several minutes. Looking
puzzled he walked round the building and held the object against the
wall again. Still nothing happened. Speaking out loud he said to
himself. "Their power must be down or their corporeal bodies are
stranded elsewhere and only the time shuttle is here."
He mused on the possibilities of what was to become of him. He
certainly didn't want to remain on this nuclear blasted planet with its
mutated inhabitants. And, if he did manage to gain entry to the
shuttle, he could not very well leave without knowing where the others
where. He sat and pondered.

The room was quite spacious and brightly illuminated. Leading off from
this was another room. In one corner there was what looked like a
computer console, it's bright screen flickering. The rest of the room
was furnished in a style either long forgotten or not even thought of
yet. A humming sound filled the room, it sounded like an energy
system's power unit. On the wall was a huge screen, or was it a screen.
The scene being viewed was one of utter desolation, it also showed the
results of a Thermo-nuclear conflagration. A man dressed in similar
attire to the inhabitants of the shuttle came into view.
The three beings viewed his actions. One of them adjusted some switches
on the console. It gave them a closer view of the man, he looked
worried.
One of them, Bjorn, spoke. "Shouldn't we let him come aboard, after all
he is one of us?"
"He knew what his options were when he left us on Omega4, he wouldn't
listen then, how do we know he has changed". This voice came from the
other room. The owner of the voice stepped into the control room. Jarg
the Commander was dressed similar to the rest of them, except he had
more insignia on his suit. This showed him to be the Senior
Officer.
He spoke. " He also knows that until we regain our corporeal status we
can't do anything to help him, he was also warned about messing around
with molecular transportation".
Molecular transportation, was a recent discovery in this time
dimension. It was a means of disintegrating the body's molecular
structure and beaming it somewhere using mind control. In the wrong
hands it could be dangerous. And here they were watching one of their
unit stranded on a planet inhabited by warlike mutants. There was no
saying what could happen to the space-time continuum if these beings
got hold of the secret.
Jarg spoke up again. " We have a problem here, whilst our corporeal
bodies are still on Omega4 and our spiritual bodies are here we cannot
do anything to help him". "I leave the decision to you, we can switch
off the beam and scatter his molecules to all parts of the universe, or
we can sit it out and hope our bodies materialise in time, that way we
can open the portal to our time and rescue him".
He strode about and looked from one to the others. " I leave it with
you, we are part of a team so think hard. A discussion between the crew
started before they could finish a shout from the Officer drew them to
the screen.
From several directions dust clouds approached the building The Mutants
had decided to investigate the stranger, also the Outlanders were
approaching fast. They also wanted to see what this strangely attired
being was doing on their planet. They were also interested in the
undamaged building. As they drew closer Lexus started to worry, he had
one option open to him. If he couldn't get into the shuttle he could
transport himself somewhere, where he didn't know. Once his body
disintegrated into its molecular structure he was under control of his
mind. The only problem was his mind didn't know where to go. The
mutants and the outlanders drew closer. He had to make a quick decision
and hope the crew of the shuttle could trace him. As he was about to
initiate the power system that would disintegrate his body down to
molecular level, there was a sudden power surge. It was like a hole was
being rent in the fabric of the universe. Lexus looked and saw the
portal opening for him. Suddenly it enveloped him. The mutants saw the
being suddenly disappear. So as usual they turned on each other
fighting a never-ending ending battle.

In the shuttle Lexus was reunited with his unit and thankful for it. "I
sure am grateful you got here in time Jarg, otherwise I would have had
to transport myself again".
Jarg spoke sternly. "Before you go jumping from dimension to dimension
think of the implications if any of the inhabitants ever get hold of
our technology, they could quite possibly infect our dimension with
their warlike ways".
Lexus looked round at his comrades. " So friends, which planet and
which dimension did I land on?"
He looked at the screen and the console it said
Earth a planet of the system of Sol
Year. 2030