Lifeforce Read Free

several yards wide. Carlsen alighted in one of these and shone the searchlight beyond. The camera, strapped to his chest now, was working automatically, recording everything he saw.
    He said: “Christ.”
    “What is it?”
    The space beyond had the appearance of a dream landscape. Monstrous flights of stairs stretched up into the darkness and down into the depths of the ship. There were catwalks between, and curved galleries whose architecture made him think of swallows’ wings. Beyond these, stretching upwards and farther into the blackness, more stairs and galleries and catwalks. When Craigie’s voice said: “Are you all right?” he realised he had not spoken for several minutes. He felt dazed and overpowered, and in some way deeply disturbed. The place had the quality of a nightmare.
    “I’m all right, but I can’t describe it. You’ll have to see it for yourself.” He launched himself outward, but the immensity made him feel weary.
    Ives said: “But what purpose could it serve?”
    “I don’t know that it serves a purpose.”
    “What?”
    “I mean a practical purpose. Perhaps it’s like a painting or a symphony — intended to produce an effect on the emotions. Or perhaps it’s a map of some kind.”
    “A what?” Dabrowsky sounded incredulous.
    “A map… of the inside of the mind. You’d have to see it to understand.”
    “Any sign of the control room? Or of engines?”
    “No, but they might be at the back, towards the jets — if that’s how it’s driven.”
    Now he was hovering over one of the stairways. From a distance, it looked like a fire escape, but at closer quarters, he saw that the metal was at least a yard thick. It was the same dull silver as the floor. Each step was about four feet high and deep. There were no handrails. He followed them upwards, to a gallery supported by pillars. A catwalk, also without rails, ran across a gulf at least half a mile wide.
    Craigie said: “Can you see a light?” He pointed.
    Carlsen said: “Switch off your lights.” They were in blackness that enclosed them like a grave. Then, as his eyes adjusted, Carlsen knew Craigie was right. Somewhere towards the centre of the ship, there was a greenish glow. He checked his Geiger counter. It showed a slightly higher reading than usual, but well below the danger level. He told Dabrowsky: “There seems to be some kind of fault luminosity. I’m going to investigate.”
    It was a temptation to thrust powerfully against the stairs and propel himself forward at speed across the gulf. But ten years in space had made caution second nature. Using the catwalk as a guide, he floated slowly towards the glow. He kept one eye on the Geiger counter. Its activity increased noticeably as they drew closer, but it was still below the danger level, and he knew his insulated suit would protect him.
    It was farther than it seemed. The four men floated past galleries that looked as if they had been designed by a mad Renaissance architect, and flights of stairs that looked as if they might stretch back to earth or outward to the stars. There were more immense columns, but this time they broke off in space, as if some roof they had once supported had now collapsed. When Carlsen brushed against one of these, he noticed that it seemed to be covered with a fine white powder, not unlike sulphur dust or lycopodium. He scraped some of this into a sample bag.
    Half an hour later, the glow was brighter. Looking at his watch, he was surprised to see it was nearly one o’clock; it made him realise that he was hungry. They had switched off their searchlights, and the green glow was bright enough to see by. The light came from below them.
    Dabrowsky’s voice said: “That was moonbase, Olof. He said your wife had just been on television with the children.”
    At any other time, the news would have delighted him. Now it seemed strangely remote, as if it referred to a previous existence. Dabrowsky said: “Zelensky says there are four billion