The first view was from one of the cameras on the top of a tank.
In the distance was a second tank, partially hidden by a rise in the coastal headland. Between the camera and the second tank, two Rimors were parked on the beach, well clear of the water. Beside one we could see a cache tent, similar to the one, or possibly identical to the actual one, we had set up during our Haven visit.
‘What’s that on the beach to the left of the closest Rimor?’ I asked, pointing at a dark object.
‘There must be more than one camera,’ said Tosh. He ran his fingers over the lower part of his console and a second camera image sprang into life. The objects on the beach were suddenly identifiable. ‘Noooooo!’ he shouted.
We were all immediately in shock. There, beside the nearest Rimor were four astronauts, three prone on the beach and one crumpled at the bottom of the Rimor steps. ‘They’re all dead!’ said Anna.
‘Can you zoom in at all?’ I asked.
‘Give me a second,’ said Tosh, and we watched the image gradually enlarge.
There, in full view, was my body, dead and blackening, blood having flooded from my mouth and congealed over my face. Behind me was Tosh. Another, looking very much like Penny, was partially facing the camera from a position which indicated she’d been climbing the steps back into the Rimor. A fourth body, large, but unable to be identified as it was face down, looked vaguely like Bill. The Rimor door was open. The second Rimor was sealed.
We were dumbfounded, and those of us who were seeing ourselves dead on the beach were in deep shock.
I snapped back into commander mode and said, ‘Call Spirit on the main Rimor channel.’
‘Spirit, come in, please. This is Tosh calling Spirit,’ said Tosh, seemingly unable to take his eyes off the bodies on the beach.
He managed to repeat the message twice before there were two almost simultaneous replies.
‘You’re alive! How?’ came Anna’s voice and, separately, ‘What’s going on?’ from Mary.
I took the microphone. ‘Don’t want to scare you guys, but we are also a Spirit crew from a parallel universe.’
‘Mark!’ both shouted together. ‘You’re alive.’
‘What’s happening?’ asked Mary. ‘What the hell do you mean about parallel universes.’
‘Not easy to explain,’ I said. ‘I’ll let Terry do it, he’s here with us, but first, what’s going on here? We can see at least four dead on the surface and two Rimors on the beach.’
‘I’m in one,’ said Anna.
‘Don’t open the hatch,’ said our Anna.
‘Is that me?’ Anna-two asked.
I guessed it would be simplest for me to let them know who was in our ship. ‘Yes, it is our Anna. I also have Tosh, Bill, Chi Wang, and Terry Bairstow with me. Our Mary’s on Earth working on the parallel universe problem. For now, we need to know your situation, because we already know about the deadly weed on Haven.’
‘Haven? We also called it Haven,’ said Anna-two.
‘I think it was me who suggested it,’ said Anna-one. ‘So natural you would too.’
‘Yes, suppose so. Can’t believe I’m talking to myself,’ said Anna-two.
‘This is your Rimor that I’m sitting beside then?’ asked Mary.
‘Yes. It’s contaminated. Don’t dock with it. What happened on the surface?’ I asked.
‘Don’t worry, I won’t,’ said Mary. ‘I’d got close enough to see the diagram warning clearly, then stopped my approach,’
Anna-two replied. ‘Everything was going well. The full scientific study was underway. The oceans are full of life, but not the land. On the land, we only found this ubiquitous greyish plant.’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Beware that some of the water creatures are large and aggressive.’
‘We know. One of them punctured the dinghy and Bill was fortunate to get back to shore in the deflating hull,’ said Anna-two.
‘Have you actually left the safety of your Rimor, Anna?’ I asked.
‘No. I was about to when Mary told me she’d found your Rimor in orbit and it was transmitting a warning,’ said Anna-two.
‘Stay sealed in,’ I said. ‘We obtained plenty of samples during our visit and they are now being examined back on Earth, so there is no point in you taking any unnecessary risks. How did it happen? We only lost one crew member, Chi died from the pollen during our visit.’
‘But you said she’s with you,’ said Mary.
‘A second Chi from your universe. But, please, tell us how the deaths happened,’ I said.
‘What, a second Chi? And another one is lying dead elsewhere on the planet?’ said Mary.
‘Yes,’ Chi said.
Mary calmed herself then explained. ‘The four of them had been on the surface for ten days, had just returned from an inland visit, and were planning more video trials in the sea with the ROV. All the tests showed that there was nothing we’d brought that could damage the ecosystem on Haven, and we’d found nothing dangerous to human life, so, for the last four days they’d been breathing the atmosphere.’
‘Then the weed released its pollen?’ Tosh asked.
‘Yes,’ said Anna-two. ‘By the time they realised what the cloud was, it was too late. Their entities told them to get back inside the Rimor and seal up, but it was too late. We watched you all die. Penny got to the Rimor ladder but then collapsed before she could climb in. It was dreadful and Mary and I were so helpless.’
‘So why did you take the other Rimor to the surface, Anna? It was obviously deadly,’ said Tosh.
‘We felt we had to investigate,’ said Mary. ‘We needed samples. We were hoping Anna could collect the samples from the first Rimor and cache tent.’
‘We had to do something, you were all dead,’ Anna-two said and I heard her sobbing.
‘Well, Anna, now you’re going to have to get back to Spirit and be decontaminated,’ I said. ‘You’re absolutely certain nothing got into your Rimor?’
‘Positive,’ said Anna-two.
‘So, you don’t know anything about the Heradians?’ asked Bill.
‘The who?’ asked Mary.
I replied, ‘We found an alien race on Herade, planet F. They’d been wiped out by the weed, brought back by their own expedition members many hundreds of years ago. A small colony survives on planet G, Arctur, and we’re helping them through a number of problems.’
‘You’re serious?’ asked Mary.
‘Truly an alien civilisation?,’ asked Anna-two, ‘and intelligent?’
‘Yes, truly,’ I said. ‘But first, we need to deal with this situation. Mary, stay where you are. We’ll come and meet you there. How long, Anna?’
‘Couple of hours,’ replied Anna-one.
‘I can’t see any point in you remaining on the surface, Rimor-Anna,’ I said. ‘Why not blast off for orbit and we’ll rendezvous there.’
‘Rimor-Anna,’ said Tosh, ‘don’t dock with your Spirit. There are decontamination procedures to go through.’
‘Okay, Tosh,’ she said. ‘I’ll prep for departure. It is so good to hear your voice. Mary, you’ll need to get back into a lower orbit.’
‘Will do,’ said Mary.
‘Okay, Mary. Send the orbit details to our Anna and we’ll rendezvous there,’ I said. ‘We’ll fill you in properly about the Heradians when we meet up.’
‘I don’t like the idea of leaving our dead colleagues on the beach like this though,’ said Anna-two.
‘I know, but it can’t be helped. It is not worth the risk of further contamination to get out and bury them,’ I said.
‘I suppose not,’ said Anna-two.