Lifeforce Read Online Free Page B

made of glass?”
    “No? What was it?”
    “Metal. A transparent metal. We’ve put the segment in the decontamination chamber, but it doesn’t seem to be radioactive. And there’s no radioactivity in the tomb. It’s a shield against radioactivity.”
    “How did you get in?”
    “The heat laser sliced straight through it.”
    Carlsen said irritably: “Next time, you wait for my orders.” He brushed aside an interruption. “I meant to contact moonbase and suggest we leave the tombs untouched for a later expedition. Suppose that thing was in a state of suspended animation? And suppose you’ve now killed it?”
    “There’s twenty-nine more,” Murchison said.
    “That’s not the point. You’ve thrown away a life, just because the damn fools back on earth don’t know the meaning of the word patience. It’d take a few months to get a fully equipped expedition here. They could tow this thing into earth orbit, and spend the next ten years learning all about it. Instead —”
    Dabrowsky interrupted firmly: “Excuse my saying so, Skip, but this is your fault. You got them into this state by talking about giants.”
    “Giants?” Carlsen had forgotten what he said.
    “You said it looked as if it had been built by giants. That’s the story that went out on the television news last night:EXPLORERS DISCOVER SPACESHIP BUILT BY GIANTS.”
    Carlsen said: “Oh, shit.”
    “You can imagine the result. Everyone’s been waiting to hear about the giants. A spaceship fifty miles long built by creatures a mile high… They’re all dying for the next instalment.”
    Carlsen stared gloomily through the port. He picked up a mug of coffee from the table and absent-mindedly took a sip. “I suppose I’d better go and look…”
    Ten minutes later he was standing beside the bed, looking down at the naked man. He had removed the canvas blanket by cutting it. Now he could see that the man was held by metal bands. The flesh looked shrunken and cold; when he touched it, it moved under his gloved fingers like jelly. The glassy stare made him uncomfortable. He tried to close an eyelid, but it sprang open again.
    “That’s strange.”
    Craigie, back in the ship said: “What?”
    “The skin’s still elastic.” He looked down at the thin legs, the sinewy feet. Blue veins showed through the marble-coloured flesh. “Any idea how we get these bands off?”
    “Burn them with the laser,” said Murchison, who was standing behind him.
    “Okay. Try it.”
    The wine-red beam stabbed from the end of the portable laser, but before Murchison could raise it, the metal bands retracted, sliding into holes in the bed.
    “What did you do?”
    “Nothing. I wasn’t even touching it.” Carlsen placed his hand under the feet and raised them. They floated into the air. The body remained at an angle, the head now floating clear of the canvas roll that served as a pillow.
    Carlsen turned to Steinberg and Ives, who were waiting outside. “Come and get him.”
    The body was placed in a grey metal shell. It was cigar-shaped and had two handles in the middle, giving it the appearance of an overlong carpetbag. In the ship’s inventory, this was known as a “specimen collector”; but all knew they were intended to serve as coffins in the event of a death in space. Dixon’s body now lay in a similar shell.
    When Steinberg and Ives had left with the body, Carlsen examined every inch of the surface of the bed. It was in fact little more than a metal slab, and when he removed the canvas underlay, there was no sign of buttons or levers. He crawled underneath, but the underside was also smooth and unbroken.
    Murchison said: “Perhaps it responded to your thought.”
    “We’ll find out with the others.”
    They spent half an hour examining and photographing the chamber; nothing of importance was revealed. Everything appeared to be purely functional.
    He watched with interest as the laser cut through the wall of the next room. The spectroanalyser showed