Any traces of parasites in the corpse, however, were not found.
“I still think that in the system of Gliese 581 there is life,” Adam said, rising. “Otherwise we wouldn’t have been sent…”
“Life in the system of Gliese 581 was found out by the probe ‘Hyperion-1,’” suddenly said a calm male voice.
Both Adam and Eve shuddered. Eve darted a wild glance at the dead man. It seemed to her that it was he who had spoken. But the grinning jaws of the corpse remained motionless, while the voice continued.
“From the seven planets of the system, potentially habitable are the third, the fourth and the fifth. The orbital scanning by the probe ‘Hyperion-1’ has shown that the average temperature on the surface of the third planet is about 360 degrees Kelvin because of the greenhouse effect, and the quantity of free oxygen in the atmosphere is not enough to support aerobic forms of life. At the same time, the atmospheric composition and radiation level do not exclude the presence of anaerobic forms on the third planet…”
“Who are you?” Eve shouted, raising her head up to a ceiling.
“Easy,” Adam answered in a low voice. “The vocal interface of information system somehow activated.”
“…remains unclear,” continued the voice. “The atmospheric composition and practical absence of a magnetic field on the fourth planet make it, most likely, unsuitable for life. No signs of lift were actually revealed. Conditions on the fifth planet are more favorable. The average temperature of the surface is 280 degrees Kelvin (considerably varying during a year because of the high ellipticity of the orbit. However, a year lasts only 67 days, which, together with the considerable mass of the planet and its atmosphere, mitigates temperature fluctuations). A sizable part of the planet is covered by ocean, free from ice in tropic latitudes. The presence in the atmosphere of twenty-six percent oxygen testifies to its biogene origin. Direct proofs of presence of life on the planet were received by landing modules A and B, which found bacterial flora in the water and soil, respectively. Orbital observation allows the assumption of the presence of extensive vegetative tracts on a land of tropical belt and large forms of life in the ocean, though, according to opinion of doctor Nakamura, a possibility of other interpretation of the received data still remains. Further research of both planets with disembarkation on surface is necessary. However, the gravity on the third planet is 2.7 g, and on the fifth is 3.4 g, which hinders human work on the surface. Consequently, though the starship ‘Hyperion-3’ is designed for eleven crewmen, nobody…”
Something clicked and the voice broke off.
“Hyperion-3,” Adam loudly and distinctly said. “Information on the ship ‘Hyperion-3.’ Expedition course. Crewmen. Diagnostics. Emergency situations onboard.”
But his appeals remained without an answer. The damaged system died as unexpectedly as it had begun.
“Damned metal crap.” Adam wearily exhaled.
“Yes,” Eve responded dead-pan. “Damned. We were damned from the very beginning. Kalkrin, Wong, Nakamura… everybody concerned with this project…”
“Not everybody,” Adam objected. “In the listing other scientists were also mentioned. Bernstein, Kozelsky… who else… Miller…
“Probably they are theorists,” Eve answered. “They didn’t participate directly in the ‘Hyperion’ program.”
“And what? What’s wrong with this? I don’t believe in any mystical nonsense. Though… well, let us assume, nevertheless, that those landing modules have brought some sort of infection to Earth. Well no, that’s nonsense. We wouldn’t have been sent anywhere in that case.”
“Explain more clearly why our ship is called ‘Hyperion-3,’ when there’s no mention of the second—only about the first probe.”
“Well, probably the second was sent to survey another star. Therefore it doesn’t relate to the topic.”
“I do not think that interstellar expeditions are such a cheap pleasure, nor is life in space such a frequent phenomenon that mankind would stray from this course. If the first probe has found an inhabitable planet, plus also one more where at least anaerobic life can exist, for certain the subsequent programs would be focused in this direction. And ‘Hyperion-2’ was sent there. Only it hasn’t returned.”
“And, without having understood the reasons of it, they sent us? As you say, it’s a too expensive pleasure.”
“Perhaps we were a rescue party. Or it seemed to them that they have found the reason, but it was only a consequence.”
“All right.” Adam heaved a deep sigh. “Do you have any ideas? Well, other than that all is hopeless?”
“Well, we still didn’t complete the exploration of the level where we regained consciousness.”
“Okay, let’s go.” He somehow mopped up his hands on his “skirt” and armed himself again with the bone weapon. He gave the flashlight to Eve, wishing to keep one hand free.
They went downstairs again and walked along a corridor which before had led Adam to Eve’s jail. Only now he turned not to the left but to the right.
And almost at once he found himself before a door with a red cross on it.
“The infirmary,” he ascertained. “Well, at last. It absolutely slipped my mind that it should be somewhere on the ship. I hope there are antidepressants there. I for sure wouldn’t refuse of them.” With these words he opened the door.
“Oh m-my…” Eve exhaled, convulsively turning away.
Here light was shining, too, lighting up medically white walls, empty cabinets with open transparent doors and racks with the broken equipment. On a couch along a wall there lay a naked female corpse, decapitated and disemboweled. And in the middle of the room, tied to armchairs, two more bodies sat opposite one another. They were dressed in once blue, but now brown, stiff from blood, overalls (but they had no footwear, only socks). At the left was a man, and at the right a woman. Her gender, however, could be guessed at only based on her figure, for her face was hidden by blood-stained bandages. More precisely, the remaining part of her face.
“Well, so we have found those who have undressed the pilots,” Adam murmured.
“You… do you see, with what they are tied?” Eve squeezed out from herself, trying not to look.
“Yes,” Adam calmly answered. “Entrails! But not their own—hers,” he nodded towards the couch.
Indeed, no wounds could be seen on the corpse of the sitting ones, at least while they were in clothes. But their heads were sawn practically in half—a rough, inept horizontal cut passing over the eyebrows. The dirty surgical saw by which it had been done lay on the floor between the armchairs. Also, both of the tops of their skulls, still covered with skin and hair, lay nearby. Whoever the unknown fan of trepanations was, he obviously had not taken pains to shave the heads of his “patients.” Judging by the blood which covered their faces, they were still alive when it was done to them.
But that was not the most horrifying thing of all. Most likely the one who cut off someone’s skull did not hurt the brain, only bare them—anyway, initially. But here lumps of brain, similar to big dead slugs, were scattered all over the infirmary. And this was not done all at once. The tools used for this purpose were very visible—ordinary tablespoons. One of them stuck out of a skull of the man, as if left in a appalling kettle. The second one lay under his powerlessly hung arm.
“The one who has done this…” Eve began, having first thrown a fast sidelong glance and then having turned away again.