Free The Silver Ring by Robert Swartwood Page A

that. Instead, he made his way blindly around the body, feeling for the wall, and moved again to the right, in search of the button for the lights.
    As he moved he thought about the dead body, about how it would feel to die himself. He didn’t think he would feel much pain if it happened. Ever since that one mission a few years ago when he had gotten his central nervous system damaged he could no longer feel pain. He was able to push himself harder than almost anyone—or anything else. Sometimes it was a blessing, but it did have its drawbacks. Luckily for him he was rarely aware of what they were.
    Finally, after about a minute, his hand came in contact with a familiar button which turned on the lights. For a moment he did not see who was dead behind him. He was afraid to look into the face, into the face of a now dead friend, and see both eyes missing. In addition, his imagination began to play, to speculate what else might be missing from the body. If the eyes were gone, what else might possibly have been taken?
    “I don’t even want to know,” he muttered, and quickly pressed a button for the lights.
    There was only darkness.
    “No,” he said, discouraged, and pressed the button again, and again.
    Still, there was no light.
    “Damn it.” He slammed his fist into the cold hard wall. In a normal person pain would now have been racing through his body, but he felt nothing. This was one of the brighter sides of his damaged nervous system, though he probably wouldn’t find out until later if he had broken anything. At least he got his anger out; that was good. He tried the lights one more time with no luck.
    God, don’t let it be the power source, he thought as he stood in front of the door. Without the power source they would be stuck on this planet until someone else came along, and the chances of that happening were slim. It had been his idea to travel out this far, about ten light years father than they were supposed to. This sector wasn’t even on most of the universal maps.
    He stood in front of the door for a long time, waiting for it to open. It usually took a moment or so for the motion detector to kick in and open the door. But, he now realized, without the power source this would not happen. Opening the door could be done manually, but it would take some strength. He reached out and found a grip on the door he could use.
    With a breath he began to pull to the side, where the door normally slid into the wall. Slowly, it began to move, little by little, until there was enough space for him to get through.
    There was no light in the corridor, and it was even colder than it had been in the room. Faintly, in the distance, he thought he heard some kind of tapping, like something with long nails walking swiftly across the metal.
    “Hello?” he called out, his voice sounding tired and somewhat frightened. “Can anybody hear me?”
    He looked down the corridor and then up, hoping to hear a sound that could lead him in a good direction. What he heard was that faint continuous tapping sound. What is that? he thought, then heard the quick footsteps and the frantic breathing behind him. He turned and said, “Who’s there?”
    The footsteps halted and there was a gasp. He could tell almost immediately who it was. “Jenny,” he said, relieved, “what’s happened? Has the power source been damaged? Why aren’t there any lights?” He could hear her breathing, and in his mind pictured her standing there, mouth open, waiting to say something but finding she didn’t have the strength.
    Softly, she said, “Captain …”
    “What?” He took a step forward.
    The faint, distant tapping seemed to be increasing. It sounded as if it were close.
    “I thought … you were dead,” she whispered.
    “What are you talking about?” he said, taking another step forward. “What’s happened?”
    “I don’t know, sir,” she said, and he could tell she was shaking her head. In his mind he saw tears falling down her