Free Through Glass Darkly Episode 1 by Peter Knyte Page A

none-the-less be exposed to its effects for far longer than any human being has to date.
    ‘My intention is to return, but this mission more than any that have been flown before comes with no guarantees, and as such over the next month I will be receiving applications from volunteers only to crew and man this vessel.’
    ‘Thank you for listening. Are there any questions?’
    There was a momentary shocked silence from the crowd assembled. Even the mass of press men and women seemed to hesitate.
    Finally one of the pressmen or women asked what the ship would be called.
    ‘This ship will be called the Kubla Khan.’
    It was an unusual name, which rang a bell for me, but I was busy wracking my brains when a crystal clear female voice almost beside called out her question?
    ‘From the poem of the same name Mr Hughes?
     
    ‘And all should cry, Beware! Beware!’
    ‘His flashing eyes, his floating hair!’
    ‘Weave a circle round him thrice,’
    ‘And close your eyes with holy dread’
    ‘For he on honey-dew hath fed,’
    ‘And drunk the milk of Paradise.’
     
    ‘Very eloquent Ms …?’ The Captain asked.
    ‘Shilling.’ She replied simply. ‘Ariel Shilling, Lensman First Class on the Manhattan, currently in dock for repair and upgrade. And I’d like to be the first volunteer to join the crew of Kubla Khan.’
    ‘Thank you Ms Shilling, the ship will be happy to have you.’
    And then having overcome their shock at Hughes revelation the crowd of press exploded, but not before Ariel Shilling had become the first volunteer to be accepted onto the crew.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER 12 – THE SEARCH
     
    I was still lost in my own memories when I realised someone was speaking to me.
     
    ‘Mr Hall . . .’
    ‘Mr Hall,’ repeated Jenkins, from a few steps away where he was talking with a couple of senior looking officials from the Police and Fire departments.
    ‘This is Chief Wright from the Fire Department, and Captain Platt from the NYPD.
    ‘We’ve been discussing how to go about tracking down this creature. Is there anything else you can tell us about them, where they might hide during the day, or what motivates them to attack people and destroy buildings and furniture in the way they do?’
    ‘Or even what they’ll look like through these strange telescopes you’ve made for us,’ chipped in the Fire Service Chief. ‘We’ve seen a couple of the dead ones that fell from your ship when you arrived, but Mr Jenkins here tells us they can turn as see-through as a sheet of glass when alive.’
    ‘I’m afraid that’s correct Chief Wright, but I don’t think there’s much I can tell you that might be of help,’ I had to reply earnestly. ‘Up until now the only creatures that haven’t fled straight back to the Expanse after attacking have been the dead and dying.
    ‘And yes, when they want to they can make themselves completely invisible to the human eye, and when they’re healthy they can do it with almost no effort.
    ‘But we also know they don’t see us or our world particularly well either, which some theorists in my own world have speculated may be why they’re so destructive of buildings and property. In fact while they’ll rip wood and plaster to pieces they’ll often ignore glass, stone and ceramics or things hidden behind them. Metal they sometimes destroy, especially if there’s any kind of electrical energy running through it. Fabrics seem to barely register with them also, so they’re no respecters of uniform I’m afraid.’
    ‘In contrast,’ I continued. ‘Sound and smell they seem acutely aware of. In the early days of the incursions this lead us to believe that explosive charges were far more effective against them than they actually are, until we twigged that it was the sound of the detonations that seemed to literally stun them, while the explosion itself did little more than propel them away until they recovered.’
    ‘Are you saying this thing will