THE PLANET THAT LOVED PEOPLE (standard:science fiction, 1994 words) [11/18] show all parts
Author: Danny Raven	Added: Mar 04 2016	Views/Reads: 1527/1112	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
PART 1 - CH 10

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

was like a thundering explosion. 

Tyler reacted instantly. “Captain!” he yelled. 

A young officer carrying a large gold box rushed forward and the two of
them sprinted the remaining few yards till they were within the Time 
Freezer's range. 

“For Christ's sake hurry!” Tyler urged, glancing at the Block. 

The Freezer had been programmed on Earth and all the Captain had to do
was set it up, aim and activate. He fumbled a bit setting it up, losing 
valuable seconds. 

“Come on, man! Activate it!” Tyler hissed. 

They just made it. The main door of the Block swung open and a wild,
bearded figure stepped out. He saw them and was turning back to yell to 
the others as the Captain pressed the ‘activate' button. 

The cry never left the man's lips. The Freezer cloaked the Block and for
him and all inside, time stood still. 

A Time Freezer was a top secret military device which froze time for
anybody captured in its initial beam. Regardless of what they were 
doing, everything stood still. It had a maximum limit of thirty minutes 
after which people frozen by it carried on as if nothing had happened. 

Tyler breathed a sigh of relief as the bearded figure at the main
doorway froze then he turned and said softly to the Captain, “The man 
who fell – find out who he is and point him out later.” Before the 
Captain could say anything he turned to the others and barked, “You 
know the plan! Move!!” 

The Security responded to his order and quickly split into sections.
Some of them moved into positions at intervals around the Block and 
faced out into the darkness, night visors down, lasers at the ready. A 
few returned to bring up the air-mobiles and the air-carrier. The rest, 
with the Surgeon General among them, moved up and joined him. 

A Fleet Technician sprinted forward to the Block, quickly located the
external control box and immediately went to work on it. It was his 
task to de-activate all the room door locks inside the Block, each 
prisoner having his own electronic key to lock and unlock his room 
door. Tyler already had the room numbers of the six prisoners he 
wanted. 

While all this was taking place he contacted the foot patrols via a
wrist radio. All was quiet except for one group who had met and dealt 
with two prisoners. Satisfied, he flicked off the radio. 

“Room locks de-activated!” called the Technician. 

“Right, let's go!” Tyler said crisply to the group and they filed past
the motionless figure in the doorway and entered the Block. 

Directly inside the Block was the large dining and recreation area. A
few late night gamblers were sitting at a table in the recreation area, 
looking over at the doorway, frozen. One had left his seat and was 
strolling across the room and was frozen in mid-stride. 

In the dining area a couple of insomniacs had been drinking coffee and
both were half out of their seats, coming to investigate and they too 
were frozen. 

Tyler regarded the scene and a satisfied smile crossed his face. Apart
from the incident outside, everything had gone to plan and now nothing 
could stop him. 

Just to be on the safe side he left a detachment of Security to guard
the dining and recreation areas. The others were already trotting up 
the long main corridor, someone flicking the light on, two men halting 
outside the rooms where the prisoners would be lifted. 

Tyler nodded to the Surgeon General. “Follow me,” he said. 

They headed for Kane's room first and when they located it Tyler pressed
the wall button outside it and the door slid open. He strolled in and 
grinned at the sleeping figure in the narrow single bed. The Surgeon 
General followed him in. 

“Inject him,” Tyler ordered. 

The Surgeon General laid his small medical case on a table, opened it
and took out a pre-loaded syrette. He walked over to Kane, moved the 
blanket aside, located the spot he wanted on his upper arm and expertly 
injected him. “You are absolutely certain this will keep him out until 
we're back at Fleet Head Quarters?” Tyler asked. 

“Positive,” replied the Surgeon General, replacing the syrette and
closing his medical case. “This stuff would knock out a horse.” 

Tyler seemed satisfied. He stepped out into the corridor and beckoned
two Security. “Take him to the air-carrier,” he instructed, pointing to 
the now unconscious Kane. 

The Security entered the room and unceremoniously dragged Kane from his
bed and carried him off down the corridor. The same procedure was 
repeated with Miller, Muslik Gra, Corthan Yanu, Sinto Ad and Blaze 14 
and went without incident. Tyler grinned as the last of the six, Blaze, 
was carried off to the air-carrier. 

The operation completed, Tyler shepherded everyone out of the Block then
contacted the men around it and called them in. The young Captain 
meantime had placed a small explosive charge on the Time Freezer. It 
still had ten minutes left to run and this would give them time to 
return to the Ship and clear Sirene. The Time Freezer would blow soon 
after the ten minutes were up. Tyler was not leaving state of the art 
military equipment lying around on Sirene. 

The group remounted and in the same formation as before, they took off,
the air-carrier having already left. In the air, Tyler contacted the 
foot patrols and called them in. 

When they reached the Falcon and landed outside its force-field some of
the patrols were already there. They dismounted and waited for the 
others to come in. 

Tyler drew his laser pistol, set it at ‘stun' and walked over to the
young Security Captain. “Point out the man who fell,” he ordered. 

The Captain hesitated. 

“I admire your loyalty, Captain” Tyler said, smiling, “but I really
would advise you to point him out, unless you wish to join him.” He 
levelled the pistol at him. 

The Captain stared at the laser then at Tyler. He knew he wasn't
bluffing. He looked round for the man and saw him standing by an 
air-mobile. After a final glance at Tyler he pointed him out. 

“Attention everyone!” Tyler barked, strolling over to the Security. “You
were all aware of the penalty for making any noise, weren't you?” 

They all stopped what they were doing and watched him. He turned to the
man by the air-mobile, aimed and fired. The man screamed and fell. 

“Take his weapons,” Tyler ordered. 

Stunned and unable to move, the man would recover in fifteen minutes, by
which time the Falcon would be long gone. Left on Sirene he would 
eventually die of hunger or exposure if he was lucky. The other 
prisoners might find him first. 

Tyler had already dismissed him from his mind and was impatiently
waiting for the last of the patrols to come in. When they arrived he 
gave the signal and the force-field was lowered. Everyone moved inside 
and it was raised. 

The Surgeon General supervised the transfer of the six prisoners from
the air-carrier to the Falcon's Medical Bay and as soon as they were 
secured in bunks the force-field was de-activated and the Ship 
departed. 

Tyler waited until they were outside Sirene's atmosphere and were
cruising back to Earth before he visited the Medical Bay. Apart from 
the incident with the Security the operation had gone well and he was 
pleased. He walked round the bunks and had a look at the prisoners. 
They were all unconscious but breathing easily. 

“How are they?” he asked. 

“All stable,” replied the Surgeon General. 

“Good,” said Tyler, beaming at him. “You've done well. I presume you
left things organised on Earth for our return?” 

The Surgeon General nodded. 

“Fine,” said Tyler and glanced at the prisoners. “Begin work on them
now.” 


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