02 Quetzals Flock

QUETZAL'S FLOCK
They settled down on the floor of the control room - there was little point in
returning outside into the heat. There were even adjacent toilet facilities, which
seemed the height of luxury, after the Spartan conditions he had endured since
arriving on Jubal. It was an exercise in ingenuity to master the plumbing, but having
done so, he felt a new man and ready to face even the challenge of pitting his wits
with a suspicious computer.
He slept well enough, leaving the Bole to probe the mind of the Command
Computer. He hoped he could trust its discretion. Thus far, the Command Computer
had been polite and benign, even allowing them the luxury of a shower - but it had not
provided food. It gave the impression of tolerating visitors but discouraging
permanent guests.
"One thing puzzles me, Hammadi. This control room - if Siyulk hadn't needed
it for himself, he wouldn't have left it available for others. I presume that this is the
only room open to the outside?"
Hammadi nodded.
"Am I right in assuming that there isn't any other entry into the Ship? No
doors or hatches?"
"We don't know of them. We haven't crawled all over the outside. The heat of
the hull wouldn't allow it. We've always been able to get into the Ship in the way we
entered. This room has always been open. My grandfather, Tursac, he knew the Ship -
as did many others of his generation. Now, they are all dead and the knowledge has
died with them."
"I wonder why Siyulk needed this control room?"
The Bole interjected loudly.
"Investigation report."
Perhaps, it only sounded extra loud in the stillness of the control room. Kane
looked at it suspiciously.
"Lower your audio control - you're shouting."
The Bole made no response, it waited. Kane sighed.
"Proceed."
"This report concerns the nature of the command given by the Tepe Siyulk. It
is contained in the Flight Log and it is the last entry. I will attempt to provide the time
co-ordinates, but they are meaningless."
The Bole had resumed a more normal volume.
"Negative - Give a verbatim report of the Flight Log entry."
A somewhat mechanical voice started to emit from the audio speaker on the
Bole. Kane assumed it to be synthesising the material of the Flight Log, which would
have been in inter-spatial binary, into a simulation of the human voice. Despite the
wonders of modern science, it managed to sound like a cheap Sci-Fi movie.
"I am the Tepe Siyulk, the First Officer of this Interstellar Transit Vessel. I
have relieved the Tepe Tursac of his responsibilities as Commander of this vessel, on
the grounds of incompetence and dereliction of duty. The Ship is grounded. Tursac
ordered a landing, whilst the planet Jubal was still in a post-flood condition. We have
made a heavy landing and we are submerged in mud and must remain so, until the
ground is firm once more.
By amplification of the force field beneath the Ship, I am sure that it will be
possible for us to lift off again. Tursac wishes to try now, thereby risking the lives of
us all. I have ordered him to be confined to his quarters, but he has escaped together
with half of the crew who are loyal to him. It is my intention to seal the functions of
the Ship and disallow any attempt to gain access. We will pursue and apprehend
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