SF Books by Vaughn Heppner

THE A.I. SERIES:

A.I. Destroyer

The A.I. Gene

A.I. Assault

A.I. Battle Station

A.I. Battle Fleet

A.I. Void Ship

A.I. Rescue

A.I. Armada

LOST STARSHIP SERIES:

The Lost Starship

The Lost Command

The Lost Destroyer

The Lost Colony

The Lost Patrol

The Lost Planet

The Lost Earth

The Lost Artifact

The Lost Star Gate

The Lost Supernova

The Lost Swarm

The Lost Intelligence

The Lost Tech

The Lost Secret

The Lost Barrier

The Lost Nebula

The Lost Relic

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The Lost Relic

(Lost Starship Series 17)

by Vaughn Heppner

Illustration © Tom Edwards

TomEdwardsDesign.com

Copyright © 2022 by the author.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.

-1-

The Lord High Admiral was troubled as he sat at his desk deep inside Star Watch Headquarters, Geneva Sector. He was a large, old man with thick white hair and a seamed face. The corners of his eyes crinkled as he finished reading a secret report about Captain Maddox.

Admiral Cook slapped the report onto the desk as he sat back and grunted in consternation. The ideas and conclusions in the report…

Cook frowned as his lips thinned.

Abruptly, he sat forward. He didn’t care for this in the least. In fact—

He pressed an intercom button, speaking curtly to his secretary, demanding that the originator of this document report to him at once.

Afterward, Cook stepped to a window, staring at the base spread before him. He noticed a group of officers walking across the carefully manicured lawn, having ignored the sign to stay off the grass. Cook grunted and returned to his desk. He picked up the brief and read it again, more slowly this time.

Were these things true about Maddox?

Cook sighed, looking up at the ceiling. If he spoke to Mary O’Hara about this—no, she wouldn’t like it, either. He recalled Mary had scolded him not so long ago, demanding Maddox receive a promotion. He’d remained a captain all these years after everything he’d done for Star Watch. Hadn’t he saved the Commonwealth more than once? Surely, he should be more than a mere captain, running an advanced starship to be sure, but just a single starship. Instead, Mary had told him, Maddox should be an admiral commanding a fleet, at least.

Cook sympathized with Mary’s assessment. Yet, he knew that Maddox worked best as a starship captain or lone intelligence officer. It wasn’t that he doubted Maddox could succeed at the higher levels. It was that the man was uniquely suited for what he did.

Frowning, Cook stared at the report.

The intercom buzzed, startling him. He pressed the button.

“Vice Admiral Blum is here to see you, sir.”

“Blum?” the Lord High Admiral asked. “He wrote the report?”

“Just a minute, please.” A second later, she said, “No sir, but he stands by it. He says he’s digested the ramifications of what it means and has been waiting for a chance to talk to you about it. He says this seems like the time.”

Cook frowned, “I want to see the man who wrote the report.”

There was another pause. “Sir, the Vice Admiral is most insistent. He believes he’s best qualified to address the issues with you.”

Cook drummed his fingers on the desk. Vice Admiral Blum was a pain in the ass and a cheeky fellow full of himself. This proved it. Had Blum anything to do with prompting the writing of the report?

“Send him in.” Cook stared at the door, waiting. He had a large office with many mementos and pictures on the walls. One of them had Blum and him together at an award ceremony five years ago.

The door opened, and a slender man who’d undergone obvious regeneration therapy stepped into the room. The Vice Admiral was dark haired, possibly wore brown-tinted contacts, and had a splotchy complexion despite the regeneration.

“Sir,” Vice Admiral Blum said, clicking his heels together. “I appreciate you letting me see you about this.”

The heel clicking reminded Cook of certain officers during Fletcher’s tenure in command. Had Blum been one of the Humanity Manifesto true believers? Those people had hated Maddox because they’d hated the New Men. That might mean deep hostility against the captain here today.

Cook nodded, and with a large hand indicated a chair before the desk. “Please sit.” He touched the report with his other hand. “I’ve been reading this and processing the allegations directed against Captain Maddox.”

“I see,” Blum said, and his eyes gleamed as he sat down.

“In your own words, give me the essentials of what you’re trying to say. Oh, by the way, did you write the report?”

“No sir. But I stand behind it. I’ve also contacted the top officers in charge of Star Watch’s grand strategy. They’re all agreed on this.”

Cook didn’t believe the last part, not in the least. But he let it slide for now. “Tell me the essentials as you see it.”

Blum sat forward, his eyes alight as he wet his lips. “Sir…it is our belief that Maddox may no longer be fully human.”

Even though Cook had been waiting for it, he spat, “That’s absurd.”

“Please sir, if you’d allow me to finish my thought.”

Cook eyed Blum, nodding curtly.

“Sir, certainly Maddox looks human enough. However, would you concede that the New Men are not completely human?”

“No,” Cook said, “I most certainly would not.”

“But…” Blum sputtered, obviously flustered by the answer.

“Let me ask you a question,” Cook said. “Would you consider Cro-Magnon man to be human?”

Blum blinked twice. “Of course.”

“And Neanderthal man?”

“Yes.”

“And an earlier precursor than that?”

Blum frowned. “That’s an interesting question. I see you understand the thrust of my argument regarding Maddox. Like the New Men, he’s an evolutionary…development that has taken him beyond normal humanity. I and many others would argue—”

“No!” Cook said as he slapped the desk. “We went through all that under Fletcher. It almost tore Star Watch apart, or have you forgotten the Humanity Manifesto Doctrine?”

Was that a look of alarm on Blum’s face? If so, the Vice Admiral hid it immediately.

“Sir, I’m not saying that. I’m saying that Maddox’s unique experiences have transformed him into something different and the differences trouble others and me. His very actions show this to be true.”

Cook eyed Blum. “All right. Explain to me what makes Maddox something other than human.”

There didn’t appear to be any embarrassment to Blum as he cleared his throat. “Sir, we know that a Spacer Visionary once called him a di-far. That means he’s a unique individual that can take history from one track and lift it, setting it onto another track. In other words, his actions can change the course of human development. This, as we’ve seen from past events, Maddox has done many times.”

“You’re suggesting that a di-far is no longer human?”

“I’m not saying that. I am saying that his being a di-far is the first clue. The second is that Maddox is a product of selective breeding, the same breeding that gave us the New Men.

“Just a minute,” Cook said. “I happen to know that Maddox never received the prenatal injections that would have turned him into a New Man.”

“Are you listening to yourself? Maddox received everything but the final injections.”

“That’s a critical difference.”

“Perhaps,” Blum said. “However, the captain also ingested the spiritual energy of an Erill. Many of us believe that did more than any New-Man injections would have done during the fetus development. Essentially, the Erill spiritual energy has propelled Maddox onto a different evolutionary path from the rest of us.”

“He’s still human.”

“I’m not sure I can agree with that.” Blum raised a hand. “Please, sir, hear me out.”

After a moment, Cook nodded brusquely.

“Maddox—”

“Captain Maddox,” Cook said sternly.

“Very well, Captain Maddox received another…injection, shall we say, during his mission to the Library Planet. Balron the Traveler found him, training him in ways that gave the captain an inhuman way of thinking.”

“Balderdash! Because of Balron, the captain has sharpened intuitive senses, nothing more.”

“Exactly,” Blum said. “Combined with his genetic heritage, di-far ability, the Erill energy and then the…the new intuitive senses—these combined traits are an evolutionary step. Maddox—Captain Maddox is no longer a Homo sapiens as you and I. He’s something else, something no longer human.”

Cook’s chair squealed as the big man leaned back. He laughed sourly. “Captain Maddox is not normal, I grant you. But these changes have merely made him a better, a superior agent for Star Watch and the Intelligence Services.”

Blum met the Lord High Admiral’s stare. The Vice Admiral didn’t appear intimidated by the hoary old man of Star Watch. In fact, Blum’s eyes gleamed with something approaching fanaticism.

Blum again hid the zeal, and as he continued to meet the old man’s gaze, he spoke further: “You said something interesting. You used the word superior. Perhaps the captain no longer thinks of himself as fully human but as something superior, something new, something grander than the rest of us. He has often taken matters into his own hands. Perhaps he will continue in that vein and attempt to set himself up as an emperor in charge of his own political entity, one other than the Commonwealth. Perhaps if matters do not suit his liking he’ll go further than what he has ever done and he’ll—”

“Enough!” Cook said sharply. “I’ve read the nonsense in this brief. I wanted to see if you really believed it, and you clearly do. You’re also expecting me to believe that the members of the Grand Strategy Council believe this as well.”

Blum hesitated before saying, “Some do. Yes.”

Cook pursed his lips, choosing his next words with care. They’d been trying to reintegrate Humanity Manifesto officers from Fletcher’s time back into Star Watch. It had been a long and sometimes bitter process. He didn’t want to spoil that now. “I appreciate that you’d tell me this so forthrightly—”

“Sir,” Blum said, interrupting. “I realize you’re attached to Captain Maddox, and I admit he has helped us many times. All I’m asking is, when you have an individual who seems to be so superior to the rest of us, will he hold to the ideals that we hold to?”

“His actions have proven so.”

Blum nodded. “In one respect that’s true. But in another he has acted in a highhanded fashion time and again, a fashion that proves his arrogance toward the rest of us.”

“And you would have had Maddox act differently, and therefore the Commonwealth suffer catastrophic losses, instead? Merely to curb his so-called arrogance?”

Blum slumped back in his chair. The question seemed to have sapped his nervous energy, leaving him much older than he’d first appeared. It also made the regenerative therapy more evident. “Sir, I’m saying there’s a possibility we should consider. It’s time to process these facts and deal with them. We must stop accepting these incidents as something beyond our control, or even forethought.”

Cook’s head swayed. In that moment, he saw something that he’d failed to see earlier. Amazingly, it was Blum and the others behind him who distrusted Maddox that had opened his eyes.

The Lord High Admiral straightened, putting both hands on the desk. “Thank you, Admiral. You’ve given me much to consider, and yes, you’re correct. This is something to consider and deal with and I believe—thank you indeed, sir.”

Blum blinked with astonishment. “You’re thanking me?”

Cook stood.

Blum scrambled to his feet as Cook came around the desk.

The Lord High Admiral dwarfed Blum, and yet, the other had a firm handshake.

“Thank you for listening and considering this, sir,” Blum said.

“Of course,” Cook said. “I appreciate officers of initiative. You’ve shown yourself to be one. I shall not forget this.”

Blum grinned.

“You’re dismissed,” Cook said.

“Yes, sir.”

As the door closed behind the leaving Blum, Cook turned toward the window, walking to it and staring out again, looking down at some cadets crossing a field of grass, also ignoring the stay-off sign, following the example of their superiors.

The report about Maddox was interesting indeed. Perhaps Mary O’Hara had a point after all, and he had a point about keeping Maddox as captain. Now, however, with the Blum-given insight—Cook turned and glanced at the report. It was time to make a few changes around here.

-2-

A week later, Captain Maddox received a summons from the Lord High Admiral. Maddox was overseeing the refitting of Starship Victory, which orbited Earth, and thus was near Star Watch Headquarters.

That morning, Maddox and Galyan had been reviewing the latest intelligence reports regarding the Adok people. At the end of last mission, the few surviving Adoks immigrated to the Commonwealth of Planets. According to the reports, the Adoks adjusted well to life on their new planet. Galyan was happy about that, yet he was sad that the Adoks still wanted nothing to do with him.

Maddox was a tall, lean and muscular man with dark hair and intense eyes. He wore his uniform as he piloted a flitter onto the tarmac of the spaceport near Star Watch Headquarters. He took a shuttle bus to the complex of headquarters buildings, used the sidewalks instead of crossing the grass field and soon found himself walking down the hall toward the Lord High Admiral’s office.

Despite the routine work he’d been stuck with recently, or maybe because of it, Maddox had become uneasy. Yes, it was enjoyable going home to his wife and daughter on the weekends, and it was also satisfying taking care of maintenance aboard Victory. He even enjoyed reviewing personnel, going over their performance charts with them and giving them feedback.

But as gratifying as these things were, something about them seemed too much like standing still. His New-Man heritage and his inborn taste for variety made that difficult. He liked to be doing, being on a new mission—an adventure.

No…adventure wasn’t the word, was it? The word he was searching for was more like “quest” or “crusade.” Maddox didn’t truly feel alive unless he was tempting fate, unless he was out there striving against the universe, acting to make some important difference for good.

Maybe the Lord High Admiral had summoned him in order to send him off on another…quest.

Maddox soon spoke with the secretary, an older lady. She requested he sit, and then through the intercom informed the Lord High Admiral that he was here.

In moments, the door opened to reveal the big old man in his white uniform. “Come in, come in, Captain. It’s good to see you. Yes, come in, please.”

Maddox followed Cook into the large office, taking his customary location across from the desk, although remaining standing. To sit first struck Maddox as a sign of disrespect for the commanding officer of Star Watch—as well as a violation of standard military protocol.

The big old man moved more stiffly than usual. He maneuvered around the desk and plopped into his chair, smiling as if this were a celebration.

Maddox now sat, waiting expectantly.

Cook took his time until his mouth opened but no words came out. Eventually he said, “You’ve put me in a quandary, Captain. But this time it’s of a different nature. However, what I’ve decided should please your grandmother.”

“You have my attention, sir.”

Cook studied him a moment longer. “I’m sure you’re aware that there are those in Star Watch who are, uh, shall we say, uncomfortable with you.”

“If I recall correctly, the Humanity Manifesto spoke to that.”

Cook frowned. “I’m going to break protocol and let you know that there are members of the Star Watch Strategy Council who are troubled by several, let us call them, developments in your personal growth.”

“Sir?”

“I’m referring to the fact that you’re considered the di-far, according to the Visionary of the Spacers. Let us call that fact one. The second is the spiritual energy of an Erill that you ingested some years ago.”

Maddox shifted uncomfortably, not caring for this sort of talk.

He wasn’t surprised when Cook went on to speak about the intuitive sense that Balron the Traveler had granted him and when the old man spoke about the Way of the Pilgrim, and then his New-Man heritage.

Cook cleared his throat. “There are some who consider these differences make you… more than human. What do you say to that?”

“What do I say?” Maddox asked. “That it’s nonsense.”

“How so?”

“I’m as human as the next man. Cut me and I bleed.”

“And if I hack your arm, will it fall off?”

Maddox flexed his right hand, remembering when the Emperor of the New Men had bested him in a dual on the Library Planet and literally chopped off his forearm. He’d had to regrow it, of course. It felt the same and yet at times… Maddox ceased his musing in order to give his full attention to the Lord High Admiral.

The captain’s intuitive sense told him Cook wasn’t agitated, but rather was pleased with himself. That was interesting. Often the Lord High Admiral had been less than pleased with him. But today…

“What is it sir? What are you trying to tell me?”

Cook smiled, saying in a hearty voice, “That we’re going to change a few things around here. This file—” he tapped a report on the desk—“and a talk that I had with a member of the Strategic Council has led me to a conclusion. Because of that, I’ve been busy this past week speaking to influential people. I’ve done that in order to give you something different, something new. It’s not quite a promotion.”

“A promotion?” Maddox said. “You’re ordering me to give up being Victory’s commander?”

“No,” Cook said. “You’re a field officer. Our best, obviously. You also possess a special talent for dealing with situations while far from home, far from any oversight. Combined with that unique Adok starship that you retrieved so long ago from the Adok star system— No, Captain, it isn’t quite a promotion, and yet it is an elevation which I think you’ll agree is due after all this time.”

“Sir?” Maddox asked, fully perplexed.

“This week, I went to the Commonwealth Parliament in Stockholm and spoke with the Prime Minister.”

Maddox frowned, more puzzled than ever.

“You’ve often acted on your own initiative and made startling choices which have greatly affected the state of the Commonwealth. Therefore…” Cook opened a drawer and took out a folder. From the folder, he produced an impressive paper with signatures and seals of state. He handed it across the desk to Maddox.

Maddox reached out, taking and looking at the paper. “Planetary Plenipotentiary,” he read.

“It’s a mouthful, certainly,” Cook said with a laugh. “It means Emissary at Large. It grants you ambassadorial powers to make decisions on your own with the authority of the Commonwealth of Planets behind you.”

Maddox stared dumbfounded at the Lord High Admiral.

“You’re still a captain in Star Watch. What you’re holding is a reserve status. You may use it when you feel conditions warrant it. As I said, it gives you Planetary Plenipotentiary power, the ability to make decisions that bind the Commonwealth of Planets. Even though this might give you a big head, you should know that the Prime Minister himself went to Parliament. They voted on this and you have indeed been given ambassadorial power.”

“But…” Maddox said, frowning.

Cook snorted. “Captain, you’ve often found yourself in the Beyond far from home, and you’ve acted on your own initiative and made far-reaching decisions. Now, I can’t say that I’m giving you this new authority, because it has not been mine to grant you. But certainly you’re a man who is considered the di-far, a unique individual who can change the course of history, a man with great energy that perhaps matches that of the New Men, or maybe it exceeds it as far as I know. You also possess a new intuitive sense that allows you insights, deep insights. All these things combined—I wouldn’t call you a superior man, as I don’t want to give you a big head. But you are unique and you have been given gifts. Now, I’ve seen to it that you have the authority to use those gifts when you’re on a mission and far from home. This Emissary at Large power is only yours when you’re outside the Commonwealth. You are, in effect, an ambassador even though you’re also a captain of Star Watch. It is, sir, a promotion, a promotion that grants you a power that not even I possess.” Cook stood, his eyes alight as a smile wreathed his leathery face.

Maddox belatedly stood.

Big, old Admiral Cook saluted Captain Maddox. Afterward, he came around the desk and put a hand on the captain’s shoulder. He reached out with his other leathery hand. Maddox grasped it and they shook. “Congratulations, Captain. Congratulations, Ambassador.”

“This is unwarranted,” Maddox said.

“Of course it is, but it only matches what we’ve seen you do time and again. Now I’ve seen to it that you have a writ of authority to back up what you do. Captain, you have made many unusual decisions and have given our Commonwealth some of our more unusual citizens. The Kai-Kaus who you saved long ago from a Builder Dyson Sphere are one. The Crowder people that you took away from behind the barrier of the Yon Soths are another, and now the last Adoks whose ship you have used and Galyan who has helped you. Yes, you’ve done many fine deeds, Captain Maddox, and it is about time that we recognized your achievement and gave you the authority to continue to do what you’re doing and granted you the power that frankly, you’ve usurped on many occasions.”

For once, Maddox was flabbergasted and silent. He looked again at the writ that the Prime Minister had signed, that those in Parliament had granted him. His chest swelled with pride. This was amazing. He couldn’t wait to tell Meta. He couldn’t wait to show his grandmother, Mary O’Hara. Would it change how he went about his missions? He didn’t think so. Then he saw that Cook wanted to add something more.

“Your station, sir, is Starship Victory,” Cook said. “It’s a unique vessel, and I think we shall begin to make changes so that your captaincy will have the authority of a fleet admiral. You do not have fleet firepower, but you are often on your own and have an independent command. It’s time we recognized these changes even as we continue to use you as a far-ranging Patrol officer, if you agree.”

“Of course,” Maddox said. “Of course, I agree.”

“Splendid,” Cook said. “Well, that will be all, Captain.”

“Yes sir,” Maddox said as he saluted smartly.

Cook gave him the folder. Maddox put the writ of authority in it. He turned and headed for the door, eager to show Meta and his grandmother. He was still astounded that the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Planets had granted him such authority.

Maddox paused as his right hand touched the door handle, His intuitive sense engaged and it told him… There would be a cost to this. With such authority came great responsibility. He opened the door, passing through, wondering what was about to happen next.

As he walked out of the headquarters complex, it occurred to him that this was also a way for the Lord High Admiral to get him out of his thick white hair, and perhaps to placate his political opponents who didn’t like Maddox hanging around. It might even be a way to stick a metaphorical thumb in their eyes. Instead of demoting or sidelining Maddox the way they wanted, Cook was giving him even more power and responsibility—as long as he exercised it far from Headquarters.

Yes, Cook was a canny old fellow.

Now, how to tell Meta that he’d be gone from home again...

-3-

Her name was Iris and she was a Spacer adept. She remembered that much. That meant she remembered that the modifications inside her, those installed long ago by the technicians in the Spacer Third Fleet…

Iris frowned.

She’d been born on a ship in the Spacer Third Fleet, had served and trained in the fleet before being sent off as a spy.

Iris walked down a brightly lit corridor in a place far from where she’d been born, far from where any of the ships of the Spacer Third Fleet had ever been.

Iris was no longer quite as young as when she’d left the fleet. Worse, the conditioning and interrogations she’d undergone here had reduced her once glamorous, youthful beauty that had so stirred Professor Ludendorff to lust.

Not so long ago, she and Clarice had worked for the professor on the fourth planet of the Omicron 9 System. They’d been his assistants in his endeavors, that handsy old goat of a Methuselah Man.

Iris shook her head at the memory.

She had curly brunette hair and was well endowed: healthy as the young men would have said in her days at the Foundation where she’d learned so much. She was taller than the average Spacer and today she wore a metallic suit from neck to heels, like a second skin. She was in prime shape and indeed still had much of the beauty that had enticed the professor. But there was something different about her as she carried a special case down the corridor.

Iris walked with a new economy of motion, although there was still a hint of seductive sexiness that not even the Mastermind had been able to eradicate from her. Iris used the appellation Mastermind even though that was not his true name or true nature.

Iris shivered, longing to forget all that she’d undergone here. Once, she’d spied on the professor. Later, she’d used strange portals and gone to where Methuselah Woman Lisa Meyers had been behind a Yon Soth barrier in the Crowder System. That was before Meyers had sent her on a suicide mission to attack the Ardazirho Control-Central. It turned out the humanoid wolves had worked for the Mastermind, doing his bidding.

Once more, Iris shivered.

She’d gone through the portals to Control-Central and was now on some planet in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. As she passed a window up in the ceiling, she saw stars, a massed profusion of beautiful-seeming gems of many colors.

Iris turned away, not daring to look too long because that reminded her that she was so incredibly far from home. Worse, she’d likely never see another human again. She’d likely never speak to the Visionary or take her place in the Spacer Third Fleet.

For a third time, Iris shuddered.

Although she was a Spacer adept with the accompanying abilities, although she’d served Methuselah Woman Lisa Meyers, she was now utterly beholden to the Mastermind.

As far as Iris had been able to determine, the Mastermind was an artificial lifeform. He was also a strategist of the First Order, with goals she did not fully comprehend. Iris thought of him as a he, although as an artificial lifeform the Mastermind was likely an it.

Iris’s thoughts shied away from considering that further. She would do as instructed—

Her right-hand fingers tightened as she held onto the carrying case handle. She was taking the item in the case to the new Yunus. It was not spelled like Eunice, as a woman’s name, but Y-U-N-U-S, the Yunus.

The Yunus was a special commander in the service of the artificial lifeform, the Mastermind.

Iris walked faster as she concentrated on the message she was supposed to deliver. She concentrated because she wanted to go home to the Spacer Third Fleet. She wanted to abandon these spy missions. She wished—

“I serve,” Iris said to herself. “I use my powers to serve him. I’m in the most beautiful locale in the galaxy, upon this wonderful world. His goals, as far as I understand them, are glorious.”

Iris smiled, working to convince herself of these things. The Mastermind’s goals are glorious indeed and this is the most awesome assignment one could ever wish to have.

Iris nodded. She believed that, except…there was a glimmer of the former Iris deep inside her. She used to…

Iris frowned and her step faltered for just a moment. She shook her head as her pace resumed normally. The former Iris was behind her. That was because at Lisa Meyers’s orders she’d attacked Control-Central, and failed. The wolves had captured and taken her to the Mastermind. He’d extracted information and then had instructed her in new protocols. The process had hurt at times, and it had definitely changed her. Now, Iris obeyed the Mastermind.

She took a turn in the corridor, walking into a chamber like a cave with a musty odor. Iris spied an Ardazirho lying in rags on the floor. His eye glowed with a light that brightened. He stood—a humanoid creature with a wolf-like head.

He was an alien Ardazirho and served the Mastermind. He was also the Yunus. Captain Maddox had slain the old Yunus. This was the new one. He had a patch over his left eye. That surprised Iris. Why hadn’t the Mastermind repaired his wounded servant?

The Yunus regarded her. The rags had been a disguise, she noticed, lying upon him as he’d been on the floor. He wore a blue uniform with a sidearm strapped to his waist. He regarded her as she approached. The faint odor of canine became stronger.

“Well, well, what have we here?” he said, in the tongue they used in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Iris stopped, knelt on one knee and lowered the case, setting it on the floor and unlocking it. She opened the lid. In a slot was a small, blue cube no larger than her palm. The cube contained data, instructions. She extracted the cube and proffered it to the one-eyed Yunus.

He stared at her without reaching for it.

“These are your orders,” Iris said.

By necessity, he was a crafty alien, and thus cautious. He raised a slender hand with claws on the end instead of fingernails.

Iris dropped the cube onto his leathery palm, one more like a chimp’s than a human’s.

His fingers wrapped around the cube. It buzzed. He became rigid as the cube imparted data from the Mastermind.

Iris knew some of that data, as it was information that Ludendorff had known, information Iris had extracted from the lecherous old goat of a Methuselah Man. Iris frowned, as she didn’t want to remember the methods she’d used to learn the professor’s secrets.

Professor Ludendorff considered himself as the universe’s greatest lover. That meant, of course, that sex was the easiest way to distract him. Iris had thus succumbed, apparently, to his advances. Because of that, she’d learned things from Ludendorff that she wouldn’t have learned otherwise. She’d done this in the service of the Spacer Third Fleet as a spy for the leaders.

Iris had learned a certain thing from Ludendorff, and the Mastermind had learned it from her. The Mastermind did not normally care about anything taking place in the Orion Spiral Arm. This hint from Ludendorff, however, was something else.

The Yunus opened his wolf-like hand, turning his palm. The cube dropped from it, striking the floor, tinkling as it rolled a short way. He barked and snarled.

Hatches opened around him and seven other wolf aliens, Ardazirhos, stepped forth. They were his team.

The Yunus regarded Iris, studying her.

She had no idea why.

Abruptly, the Yunus turned, beckoning the seven. They followed as he departed toward a portal.

Iris wondered about that. Would he go to the Orion Spiral Arm? Would he use the portals that could transport someone from one end of the galaxy to another in a moment? The portals were Yon Soth technology, far beyond human technology and even beyond Builder technology. That meant they were greater than anything the Spacer Third Fleet possessed.

Iris retrieved the cube, returning it to the case. She paused, looking around to see if any surveillance device monitored her. To help in this, she activated a Spacer adept modification inside her. Ah. This was interesting. Nothing watched her, no sense of the Mastermind or any of his tools.

Iris swallowed uneasily. Was this the moment?

She served the Mastermind. Of that, there was no question. Yet, there was the tiniest spark of resistance in her. That was how the Mastermind would say it. Iris would call it her true and original purpose. Her nostrils flared. She’d protected this tiny spark during all the interrogations. She’d cherished it as a sinful activity that none could take from her no matter how hard they tried.

Iris set the case on the floor and knelt on one knee. She picked up the cube, closing her fingers around it. She used one of her Spacer modifications, an electronic device powered by an interior battery that still contained energy. Iris shuddered and moaned as images flooded into her mind.

She saw Earth, Europe, Switzerland Sector, a specific building at Star Watch Headquarters. In the building were archives. In the archives—

Iris screamed. Her hand opened as she flew backward. A bolt of power from the cube smashed into her brain.

“Insufficient authorization,” said a voice in her mind.

Iris lay on the floor, blinking and shuddering. In terror, she shut off the Spacer modification. She tried to forget what she’d just done in case the Mastermind questioned her about it later or put her back in the machines that had extracted data from her.

Iris groaned and worked up to her feet, gingerly putting the cube back into the case and closing it.

She should never have done what she did, and yet…she longed to leave this place. She longed to return to the Spacer Third Fleet and tell them there was a planet that had—she couldn’t quite grasp what she’d sensed in the cube.

Despite that, a process began in her heart that strengthened the tiny spark of resistance.

Her pace quickened as she sought to return the cube and case to where she’d received it.

Iris told herself certain truths. She would always remain in the Mastermind’s service. She would never attempt to leave. She would never attempt to use the portals as she’d done to attack Control-Central. She loved the Mastermind. She swore that to herself

And yet…there was that old allegiance deep in her heart. She was a Spacer Third Fleet spy, and if ever a chance presented itself—

Iris blanketed such thoughts, refusing to think them. She also kept her gaze down so she wouldn’t see the stars in the ceiling window. She hated the massed stars because she hated it here in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

-4-

The ancient Adok Starship Victory orbited Earth. It had two huge, connected oval sections. Presently, the starship moved over South America, heading toward Antarctica.

Aboard the starship, drifting through its corridors, was the holoimage of an Adok. He was a smallish alien with craggy, almost cracked features and small ropey arms with equally slender digits. His name was Galyan, an ancient AI. Six thousand years ago, in life, he’d been Driving Force Galyan, the last Adok commander.

Well, that wasn’t true anymore. Galyan had found his missing people. Last mission in a distant nebula, they’d found living Adoks as well as other holoimages of deified AIs, meaning with the engrams of formerly living Adoks combined with computerized knowledge, data and processes.

If Galyan could have sighed wistfully, he would have done so now. His feet didn’t touch the floor, as he floated along as a holoimage. Victory was his ship. He saw with the vessel’s outer sensors and saw inside through the security cameras.

As an AI, he had a vast intellect, able to process all this. But was he really alive, then? Galyan pondered the idea as he had done on so many other occasions.

The starship was on orbital standby, and thus only had a skeleton crew, even though the captain had been up several times in the last few weeks. Maddox had been going over personnel lists, speaking to him occasionally.

Lately, Galyan had avoided the company of his human friends. He was too distraught over the exile from his own people. The living Adoks, the ones he’d found, the ones Captain Maddox had rescued from murderous deified Adok AIs—the living Adoks wanted nothing to do with him because the other deified AIs had tried to exterminate all Adok life.

Galyan wanted to cry with grief. He was truly alone. Throughout the thousands of years that he’d kept watch, hoping, dreaming that maybe someday he’d find living Adoks…

“What does it matter?” Galyan told himself. “I am simply a machine, an AI, a construct.”

Yet, even as he told himself that, he did not believe it. He had feelings. He had the personality of the former Driving Force Galyan.

No. I am Driving Force Galyan. I would not be so upset if I did not truly feel. Machines do not feel. They simply function and cannot simulate feelings. I have more than feelings. I have angst.

Galyan shook his holoimage head. He did not want to think about it. The problem was, he couldn’t think of anything else than his exile. He had helped to save the living Adoks and now they feared him. They dreaded him. Oh, this was awful. He wanted to belong.

Yes, he had his human family. He loved Meta, Captain Maddox, Ludendorff, Keith, Valerie, Andros Crank and Dana. He would have liked to speak with Dana again. Maybe she could provide a different outlook than the one he was presently experiencing.

I am a soldier. Six thousand years ago, I accepted my last mission: to protect the Adok home world. I failed. The Swarm destroyed my planet. Even so, I kept my post all those long and lonely centuries. Lately, I have aided the humans. Now, I have gained the great reward of helping my race survive. Now they may expand once again. I should be rejoicing at what has occurred. This is so great and awesome. I have helped to save my people. And yet, they reject me.

Thus, for the last several months, Galyan had drifted in dejection, wondering what the future held for him. Perhaps he should work at restoring relations with the living Adoks—but how?

As he drifted in a corridor, Galyan’s head jerked up. Was there a glimmer in his dark eyes? Could a holoimage replicate that? He was about to consider more deeply the possibility of repairing relations with the living Adoks when Andros Crank, the starship’s Chief Technician, a Kai-Kaus, one of those saved by Captain Maddox many years ago at the Builder Dyson Sphere—

Andros Crank called him. “Galyan, Galyan. Can you hear me?”

“Yes Andros. I hear you very well.”

“I’m picking up odd readings. I’ve checked in the computer library. I believe we’ve sensed these readings before. But for some reason it isn’t catalogued in the computer.”

“Strange readings? This is Earth. Did you check with the nexus people?”

“That’s a good idea, Galyan. Thanks. I’ll do just that. Andros out.”

Galyan used the starship’s sensors to look off into the distance. Between Earth and the Moon floated a great pyramid, a Builder nexus. They had brought the nexus back from the Library Planet with them. With the nexus, techs could create a hyper-spatial tube that reached out to five thousand light years away. A ship could traverse the tube, crossing the distance in a moment. Any farther than a five-thousand light-year projection and the ship and system risked destruction.

The nexus was a great boon to Star Watch, allowing them to send ships, even fleets, to a danger zone in minutes and hours instead of taking weeks or months of regular travel. Galyan had helped humanity gain control of the nexus.

Thinking about it, the small holoimage flapped his ropy arms as he drifted down the corridor. This was so awful, so terrible—his people—

“Galyan, this is Andros again. I don’t think the readings I’m picking up have anything to do with the nexus. I wish you’d take a look at this.”

“Pass me the readings, would you?”

Andros must have complied.

Galyan concentrated and saw the strange readings. They were unlike anything he knew. This was not good. Worse, he sensed Yon Soth technology.

The Yon Soths were vile, ancient creatures. So far, they’d only had evil intentions against humanity. Humanity had confronted a few in the flesh. In the end, the humans always had to annihilate the Yon Soths for purposes of self-preservation.

The holoimage disappeared from the corridor and reappeared on the bridge beside Andros.

The Kai-Kaus technician was a chubby fellow with piercing, intelligent eyes. He was hunched over his science board, checking readings.

“You are still studying the readings, Andros?”

Andros whipped about in shock and surprise.

“Oh, I am sorry. I did not mean to surprise you.” Galyan flapped his arms. “Oh, Andros, I am sorry. I have just uttered an untruth. I did mean to shock you. I am sorry I lied just now. Sometimes I have trouble telling the difference between social politeness and lying. Human culture can be very confusing.”

“Don’t worry about it, Galyan. Can you tell me what this is?” Andros indicated the science board. “Can you tell what’s going on? I can’t make this out, and something tells me this isn’t good for Earth.”

“Yes, this is interesting.” Galyan’s eyelids fluttered, an indication his AI systems functioned at hyper-speed as he correlated many factors and pieces of data. His eyelids fluttered faster.

No one saw this but Andros, as no one else was on the bridge. The bridge was a circular area with a captain’s chair in the center and a large screen in front.

“Hmm,” Galyan said, his eyes back to normal. “This is interesting. The readings have a Yon Soth taint but—oh, I believe I am pinpointing this. It is appearing—Andros, please steer the ship for European Sector, in particular Switzerland Sector.”

“Do you think what is going on is happening at Star Watch Headquarters?”

Galyan glanced at Andros. “Yes, that is exactly what I think. Since there is no pilot presently on the bridge, I am redirecting the ship myself. Andros, could you communicate to Star Watch Headquarters that we are experiencing—”

“Never mind about that,” Andros said. “We need to get to the bottom of this. I can feel it.”

“I believe you are correct. Have you checked Star Watch channels to see if there is an emergency in progress?”

“Of course I have,” Andros said. “You must have, too.”

“Yes,” Galyan said. “There is nothing in progress. This is something secret, something hidden.”

“Why do you think I bothered you with it? I know you’re…” Andros dropped his gaze, turning back to the board.

At another time, Galyan might have questioned Andros about this, but he knew he had been morose lately, and that everyone else knew it.

The starship changed orbital trajectory, heading across South America toward the Atlantic Ocean and Europe, in particular, Geneva. As soon as the vessel obtained a direct line of sight with Geneva, Galyan understood what he was sensing.

“Andros, it is a portal. A Yon Soth portal is opening on Earth.”

“You mean like the kind in the Crowder System that propelled Captain Maddox across 100,000 light years?”

“Exactly. A portal is opening,” Galyan’s eyelids fluttered once more. “At Star Watch Headquarters.  I am bringing up an HQ schematic.”

A holoimage schematic appeared beside Galyan. Soon, a blinking red dot appeared in a precise location within it.

“Do you know what part of headquarters that is?” Andros asked.

“The archives,” Galyan said.

“A portal is appearing in the Star Watch archives?”

“That is correct.”

“A portal that the Ardazirhos once used?” asked Andros.

“Precisely.”

“Do you think Ardazirhos are appearing at Star Watch Headquarters in the archives?”

“Yes,” Galyan said, “that is exactly what I think. I am going to investigate.”

“Wait.”

Galyan looked at the fat Chief Technician.

“Aren’t you restricted from appearing there?” Andros asked.

“This is an emergency.” With that, Galyan disappeared from Victory’s bridge.

-5-

Perhaps Galyan’s sense of direction and usual pinpoint accuracy was off by several degrees. Perhaps he had not taken into account the Earth’s rotation to an exact degree. Perhaps he had not taken into account the starship’s maneuvering. Or perhaps there was some other factor that he could not explain. In any case, Galyan, as a holoimage, projected from Starship Victory and appeared within a wall.

From inside the wall, Galyan saw and heard nothing, sensed nothing. And for a moment, disorientation struck. Then he corrected and floated out of the wall, appearing in a corridor inside Star Watch Headquarters.

Galyan saw an officer, a large female walking away from him, and then breaking into a staggering run as she screamed.

He realized that he had neglected one other facet. Galyan dimmed his holoimage into ghost mode. He did it so that he was hardly visible, a wraith, as it were. He could, of course, have become invisible. In that case, his optic sensors would not have picked up any of the visible electromagnetic spectrum and he would have been blind, having to use radar and other sensors—hearing or smell, for instance.

Interestingly, Galyan trusted his sight more than any other sense, much like a human in that way. In any case, Galyan dimmed himself into ghost mode as he ran a schematic of Star Watch Headquarters in his memory.

Of course, this was a restricted area and, of course, some had tried to delete this information from him in the past. But Galyan had recalibrated and given himself the latest specs.

He now began to maneuver through the corridors, heading for the archive area, redirecting himself as the holo-projector on the starship made its adjustments.

As a precaution, Galyan activated his offensive equipment. It could send energy through the same apparatus that projected his holoimage. If he focused, he could emit the energy around his holoimage. If he went inside a person and expelled enough energy, it could kill, had killed in the past.

Armed and ready, Galyan moved through Star Watch’s most secure facilities. That was despite the defensive equipment designed to stop anyone like him. He did sense that he left a minute trace, not enough to initiate an emergency, but perhaps enough to record his presence if someone looked hard enough later.

Did that make any difference at this point? Galyan didn’t think so. For once, he was not thinking about the live Adoks. Well, he was thinking enough to have the thought, but he was focused on something else.

On two separate missions, they’d faced Ardazirhos, humanoid wolves. The first time had been against the C.I. Nubilus, a spaceship of strange design and properties. That had been in the Library Planet System. The second had been when they’d faced Methuselah Woman Lisa Meyers in the Crowder System. The Ardazirhos had served one called the Mastermind and monitored the portals. Galyan had learned all that—

Forget about how you learned it. You are on a mission. You must concentrate one hundred percent and use every faculty to track down the reason for the strange reading. Do not get caught up in things that do not matter.

Taking a shortcut, Galyan moved through several walls to reach a different corridor. He bypassed several security systems with ease and entered the computerized archive section.

This was the area where he had sensed the possible portal. He scanned and listened, but he did not sense, see or hear anything. The place was empty of intruders or regular Star Watch personnel.

Could his sensors have been in error earlier?

No. This is the place. He searched with greater vigilance, but there was nothing.

Wait, he would use infrared tracking. He did, studying the floor, and saw the faintest of footprints. They were not human-shaped but a boot such as a bipedal wolf would wear.

I have found you, or I am on your track, at least.

Now that he tried a different sensor, he found the faintest, most minute amount of radiation, and that matched what a portal discharged.

The portal had appeared…here. Galyan pointed with one of his ropy fingers and moved to the exact spot.

Then he followed the tracks going away from the likely portal. There were three faint sets. Did that indicate the intruders wore suits? Yes. Galyan believed so.

Soon enough, the tracks led to a computer that ran faster than normal. Look. There was a tiny device in one of the slots. Was the foreign object storing Star Watch archived data?

Galyan intensified his scan, but he could see nothing more.

He ramped up his hearing. Oh. There was a faint rustle of sound, perhaps of one breathing inside a suit.

Galyan searched farther into the electromagnetic spectrum, into near- and then mid-infrared.

Abruptly, three suited individuals with odd helmets and breathers appeared with their backs to him. With a shock, Galyan realized that each helmet muzzle projected exactly as it would for a wolf alien, an Ardazirho, with a snout instead of a normal face.

They must be wearing invisibility suits. Certainly, the suits must bend the visible electromagnetic spectrum so what was before or behind them appeared on the suit, rendering the person invisible. That was why he hadn’t seen them before, and why he hadn’t smelled them. They were odorless in the suits.

Galyan did not need to run any probabilities. These three were hostile toward Star Watch. They should not be doing this. As Ardazirhos, they would be deadly.

Thus, instead of announcing himself or telling them to desist, Galyan floated into the nearest. He expected a repeller device, but the creature’s suit did not have such a thing.

Galyan activated.

A surge of power left Victory using the projected holoimage beam, reaching Galyan and emanating outward from him. The violent energy burst through the Ardazirho and against the invisibility suit. That must have shorted critical electronic equipment. The suit appeared in the visible spectrum as the attacked wolf alien thumped onto the floor.

The other two aliens turned. Did they see ghost-mode Galyan drift from their fallen comrade? One must have. He raised a gun-like weapon. Particles of energy leapt from it.

Galyan dodged so the particles slammed against a wall, burning a hole in it.

“You must cease this at once.” Galyan left ghost-mode, entering normal holographic projection.

Perhaps that was a mistake.

The two suited creatures targeted him, clicking a knob on the weapons, even as Galyan floated toward them.

“I order you to stop in the name of Star Watch. I am a—”

The two weapons emitted energy, striking Galyan. The rays did not pass harmlessly through him as a bullet or laser beam would have done. Had they switched the weapons’ settings when turning the knobs? It would appear so.

In a reverse manner from Galyan’s original strike, the energy from the pistols flowed into the holoimage, followed the projection path and must have emerged into the projector or perhaps the AI core of Galyan on Victory.

That core was in the center of the starship.

At that moment in the archive section of Star Watch Headquarters, as Galyan faced the wolves, he vanished.

-6-

Captain Maddox wore dark pants, boots and nothing else. His torso gleamed with sweat as he wielded a dueling saber, facing an arms instructor.

The two were outside on grass in sunny weather near a building and a parked flitter. The instructor, one of the world’s premier fencing experts, slashed at Maddox.

The instructor’s long face was screwed up in a rictus of intensity. The man had taken a cocktail of drugs in order to heighten his speed and endurance, all in an effort to match Maddox.

Maddox’s right forearm ached, the regrown forearm, the one that the Emperor of the New Men had once hacked off as they dueled in front of the Supreme Intelligence of the Library Planet. Maddox could not forget the match or the pain of his loss. He yearned for a rematch just as he yearned to find the other two New Men who had murdered his father.

Maddox parried the cut so the sabers clinked and sparked as the duelists continued across the grass. The instructor shouted one thing after another. Maddox tried to catch the other’s blade on his and use his superior strength to rip it from the instructor’s hand. The instructor disengaged his blade with lightning speed, parried a second blow, countered and then retreated.

Before Maddox could follow, the instructor dropped his saber. The man bent over, clutching his knees, panting and gasping.

Maddox lowered his blade. His chest also rose and fell. He watched the other.

Finally, the sweaty instructor looked up. “That’s it for today. My heart is fluttering like a hummingbird’s. I dare not do more.”

Maddox nodded curtly, striving to release the rage, the intensity, the desire for conquest that burned through him. He realized he’d seen the instructor as the Emperor. He might have… well, not slain the man. He couldn’t have done that, could he?

The instructor watched him closely. “Are you feeling like yourself again?”

Maddox turned away without answering, walking to the flitter. It was an aerial vehicle with a bubble canopy. He opened the door, put the sword away and picked up two towels. He toweled his face and pitched the other to the arms instructor.

The man caught it. He was still breathing rapidly and looked pale.

“That’s it then,” Maddox said. “I appreciate what you’ve done.”

“No, no,” the instructor said, “you’ve been teaching me. I wish I could show you more. I wish I could tell you who to go and see next. Captain, the cocktail of drugs that I’m taking to match you…I dare not take more. To continue would give me a heart attack.”

“I’m sorry,” Maddox said. “I should have considered that.”

The instructor eyed him. “You’re a superb, a spectacular duelist, and yet you want to improve? I don’t know why.”

Maddox could feel his regrown forearm throb. He knew why. He never wanted to face such a bitter defeat at the hand of the Emperor again. Someday…

A unit at his side began to beep. “Excuse me.” Maddox unhooked a comm device from his belt. “This is Maddox speaking.”

“Sir, this is Andros Crank. I’m sorry to interrupt you, sir, but there’s an emergency aboard ship.”

Maddox lofted an eyebrow. “Go on,” he said.

“It’s Galyan, sir. I, I think you’d better come up here on the double.”

“Have Galyan report to me down here. Surely he knows where I am.”

“That’s just it, sir,” Andros paused, “he can’t come to you, if you get my meaning, sir.”

Maddox frowned. If Galyan couldn’t come to him…that meant the holo-projector was inoperative for some reason. “I’m on my way. Maddox out.” He hooked the comm back onto his belt, nodding once more to the arms instructor.

“Can I drop you off somewhere?” the man asked. “You seem concerned.”

Maddox forced a smile. “It’s nothing.”

“Please, where can I take you? Do you need a ride to the spaceport?”

“That’s a good guess, yes.”

In that moment, Maddox wondered if the instructor was a spy or other operative. He’d had the man vetted. Maybe he was becoming too paranoid.

“Just take me to the spaceport,” Maddox said. “That’ll be good enough.”

“I’d be glad to.” The instructor headed for the flitter.

Shortly, Maddox thanked the instructor at the spaceport, leaving the flitter and hurrying to a terminal. He commandeered a shuttle and soon flew into orbital space toward Victory. Since he hadn’t received any more messages from Andros, he’d decided to keep comm silence.

What had happened, though?

As Maddox headed for the great starship, he thought once more about his time in the Lord High Admiral’s office and the writ of Planetary Plenipotentiary power. He wondered what it portended.

Was fate now demanding a price for receiving such a promotion?

As the shuttle headed for an open hangar bay door, he put such thoughts aside and concentrated on the present.

Upon landing and learning Andros’s whereabouts—Maddox hurried. Soon, he knocked on a locked hatch in the center of the starship.

The hatch slid up and chubby Andros Crank faced him with a cloth in his hands as he cleaned his thick fingers.

“Is Galyan out?” Maddox asked. “What’s happened to him?”

“I think you should come and see for yourself, sir.”

Maddox didn’t like the sound of that for two reasons. One, he wanted a direct answer when he asked one of his people. Two, Galyan sounded badly off.

They hurried through several short corridors, stepping into the key chamber. There, the projection machine—it was blasted apart, with the smell of burnt electronics around it.

“That’s not all of it.” Andros pointed at a main processor. It was fused, destroyed. “That holds most of deified Galyan.”

“What?” Maddox asked. “How could that have happened? Is it sabotage from someone aboard ship?”

“I don’t think anyone aboard ship did this.”

“You’ve checked the security files, then?”

Andros looked down, no longer meeting the captain’s stare.

“What is it, Chief Technician? What aren’t you telling me?”

“Sir…Galyan detected an alien intrusion, one in the heart of Star Watch archives.”

“What?” Maddox said.

Andros looked up before quickly looking back down again. “Galyan went to check the problem.”

“He went into a restricted area? He’s not supposed to be in there.”

“I know, sir. I told him that before he left.”

“Look at me.”

Andros raised his head.

“What happened? Give it to me straight.”

Andros explained how he’d informed Galyan of a strange reading. Galyan had pinpointed it, detecting possible Yon Soth technology, maybe a portal into Star Watch archives.”

“A portal,” Maddox said. He’d used portals before, during a horrific time as he’d been technologically catapulted from one end of the galaxy to another, and all in a matter of moments. He’d gone to strange places indeed. “What were…who used the portal?”

Andros shrugged.

“What did they want in the archives?”

Andros raised his pudgy hands in a shrug. “I have no idea, sir.”

“Can you repair this? Can you fix it?”

“I’ve been trying,” Andros said. “But this is beyond my capabilities.”

“Where’s Professor Ludendorff?”

“I have no idea, sir. Didn’t he leave soon after the last mission?”

Maddox scowled thunderously. “Can you tap into Galyan? Can we speak to him?”

“I’m afraid not, sir.” Andros pointed at one of the burnt sections.

“Not again,” Maddox said. “Star Watch archives—it’s imperative we repair Galyan immediately.”

“You’re going to need Professor Ludendorff or some Adok deification specialist. You think you can get one of them, sir?”

Maddox pondered a few more moments before he shook his head. There would be no Adok technicians coming to revive Galyan. He needed the professor. He had to find out where the professor had gone and convince him to come back and repair Galyan.

We need to fix the machine. Or rather, we need to heal our friend.

Galyan was a deified AI computer system, but in some way, he was also a living being.

Maddox wasn’t a theologian or life scientist, but Galyan acted as a living creature. Did that mean Galyan had a soul? Maddox couldn’t see how, but he wasn’t going to ponder that just now. Besides, by Andros’s account, aliens had attacked Galyan down at Star Watch Headquarters. Maddox had to respond to that intrusion.

“Listen,” he told Andros. “We need to retrace Galyan’s steps. We need to figure out what happened.”

“How do we do that?”

Maddox scowled before saying, “Seal the area. We won’t let anyone in here. Well, we never have, but we’re going to set a guard to make sure. If they hit headquarters, why not the starship next? Yes. Thanks, Andros. You’ve done well. Except…I wish you would have called me before sending Galyan into an area he was absolutely forbidden to enter.”

“It wasn’t my decision, sir. Galyan took it upon himself.”

Maddox was about to retort. Instead, he nodded curtly and turned sharply. A moment later, he turned back. “You said he went into Star Watch’s restricted area, the archives, specifically?”

“Yes, sir.”

Maddox hurried out of the secured AI area, heading for the unoccupied bridge. Once on the bridge, he activated the main screen and went to the communication console. He activated several controls. “I need to speak to Brigadier Stokes,” he said.

“Yes, sir,” a female Star Watch operator said.

“This is an emergency. I need to speak to him now.”

“Yes, sir.”

A few moments later, a man came on. “Captain Maddox, this is Stokes. What can I do for you?”

“Just a moment. I’ll activate the main screen.” Maddox did so and turned.

Upon the main screen appeared a middle-sized man in his fifties with a goatee. He had sparse hair and sat behind a small desk, smoking a stimstick with a glowing red tip. There was an ashtray on the desk full of mashed stimstick stubs and many strewn reports to the side.

Maddox and Stokes had a long history, not always a cordial one, either.

“Brigadier,” Maddox said, “I’m reporting a possible alien intrusion into Star Watch Headquarters.”

“Right. What happened?”

Maddox explained the little he knew while Stokes stared at him, inhaling deeply and sending smoke out through his nostrils.

“Galyan went into a restricted area, one forbidden him?” Stokes asked.

“Yes, yes,” Maddox said. “I’ve said as much. Don’t you understand? That’s not the issue right now. A portal indicates that he was likely chasing Ardazirhos, wolf-like aliens from the center of the galaxy. This could be critical. We’ll deal with his violation of regulations later. Right now, Star Watch itself may be at risk.”

“I understand,” Stokes said. “I’ll call you back in a few moments. Thank you, Captain. I appreciate the alert.”

The screen went blank.

Maddox moved to the captain’s chair, sitting. Why would the wolf aliens come to Earth? Was this retribution for what had occurred in the Crowder system? He didn’t know enough to say.

A few moments later, the comm line beeped and he activated the main screen again.

Stokes stared at him from it. The brigadier no longer smoked a stimstick, although smoke rose from a new one crushed in the ashtray. “Security has just checked. There is no one, no alien, no intrusion of any kind in the archive section. They did, however, report a small burn in a wall.”

“What about tracks or blood?”

“Captain, I’ve just told you, there is nothing and no one. The only indication is the burn mark, a bad one.”

“I see. Do you have a screenshot of it?”

“I thought you might ask that. Here it is.” Stokes pressed a button on his desk.

A portion of the main bridge screen showed a burn hole in a corridor wall. Maddox couldn’t tell anything specific from it.

“Clearly,” Stokes said, “somebody was in the archive section. By the new burn mark, it was recently. Perhaps Galyan went wild in a fit of rage.”

“I seriously doubt that. I suggest you double security over there.”

“Captain,” Stokes said, “I’ll remind you who is in charge of Intelligence. That is me. I know how to do my job. Do you know how to do yours?”

Maddox’s face remained blank.

“One of your officers disobeyed a direct order,” Stokes said. “I need to speak to Galyan and then I’m going to call the Lord High Admiral. I’m going to suggest we deactivate the Adok AI whenever Victory is in Earth orbit.

“You needn’t worry,” Maddox said. “Galyan is no longer functional.”

“Oh.”

“Galyan was trying to defend Star Watch property when the aliens attacked him.”

“And how did they achieve such a miracle?”

“Yes,” Maddox said, “exactly. That is what I intend to find out. I’m glad you approve. Good day, sir.”

It looked as if the brigadier would respond. Instead, he nodded curtly and the connection was cut.

Maddox lurched to his feet. He needed Ludendorff and he needed him now. First, he would have to find where the old goat had gone.

-7-

Approximately 50,000 light years away from Earth, Iris received a summons from the Mastermind. She swam in a large pool of slippery liquid, doing laps back and forth through it. The liquid was different from water and darker colored. She glided through it with an amazing ease.

Iris often swam here in order to maintain a supple and vigorous physique.

The summons came into her mind and she knew at once that the Mastermind was agitated, as much as he could be, anyway.

Iris turned sharply, swam faster and scrambled onto a pulsating red poolside. She toweled off and slithered into the metallic suit that she usually wore while in this realm. She waited a moment as it configured to her curvy stature, and then she toweled her hair dry. She began to comb her hair as she moved briskly toward the nearest terminal.

This place was different from the corridor she’d walked to bring the Yunus a message. This was a grand area of open space. Stars gleamed in the heavens in an amazing and rich profusion: green, red, blue and violet. Some merged into a vast clot of color. Others gleamed intensely bright. Stars, stars, stars—there were stars everywhere in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Iris didn’t know if this was the exact center or if it was off by 200 or 2,000 light years. The planet felt like a cage and she a rat made to perform for a strange and alien, a bizarre, master.

She grabbed a bar, hoisted herself up, and threw her feet down a chute, followed by the rest of her as she released her hold. She slid fast, turning, and then alighted into a round room.

Before her swirled strange, holographic colors. She knew a moment of fear and wondered if the Mastermind had sensed that she’d read the message cube and learned the parameters of the mission for the Yunus.

Squaring her shoulders, Iris approached the swirling colors with brave resignation. She stood very still as one swirl danced slowly and serenely before her eyes. It moved a bit more and merged with her head. For a moment, she could feel the swirling. That brought confusion, a chaotic feeling and a numbing of certain areas of her mind. She knew that if that numbing had occurred more slowly, she might have vomited.

She’d done so before.

Even so, Iris felt a moment of nausea. That, too, faded, suppressed. Her intellect improved, grew as if it sped at great speed. It felt as if she moved to a place where she saw lights—many lights in grander and brighter profusion than the stars in the sky. Iris understood that she approached the great intellect. There was a merging, and pulsating and passing data as she felt the thoughts of the Mastermind.

“Iris,” a deep and mellifluous voice spoke in her mind.

“Yes, Master,” she said robotically.

“A moment. I must make an adjustment. “Ah, better. Now, let me scan, let me see.”

Cold, Iris felt cold.

“Oh, this is interesting. You possess abilities that I have not purged from you, nor have I sensed them before this. Why, this is most interesting indeed. You read the contents of the missive to the Yunus. You know then what he attempted to do.”

“Oh, Great Master,” Iris said, afraid he would erase her intellect, erase her uniqueness, that she would no longer be who she was.

“That is a possibility,” the Mastermind told her.

Iris shuddered in horror. She would have moaned, but her ability to speak was inhibited. If she could have seen herself, she would have seen a rigidly still woman with swirling colors moving inside and outside of her head and past her curly brunette hair. The swirl was a link, a terminal to the Mastermind, the Great One, the one she’d come to destroy a long time ago. Lisa Meyers—

“No more, “the Mastermind said. “Do not worry about Lisa Meyers.”

“I am not worried.”

“What I want to know, Iris, is more about Venna the spy.”

“Master?”

“Venna the spy,” the Mastermind said. “My agents have learned some interesting data concerning her. They went, or some of them did, to the Library Planet. The planet is a most interesting place. I would like to speak to—I would have this Venna the spy working for me. Who is she?”

“Can you not simply take that knowledge from me?”

“Iris, I can take anything I want from you. But if I do, I might cause harm to your brain. You would become a retard, useless to me, and therefore…I would have you destroyed. Do you wish me to take that route, Iris?”

“No, Mastermind.”

“Then you will tell me all you know about Venna the spy.”

“Mastermind, I have never heard of her.”

“Then let me tell you what I have learned.” The Mastermind told her what Captain Maddox had written in a report for Star Watch Intelligence regarding all that had occurred at the Library Planet, which included data about Venna the spy.

“Yes, given what you have said, I suspect that either she was a spy from Methuselah Woman Lisa Meyers, or she was a spy for the Spacers.”

“Or maybe both,” the Mastermind said.

“That is a possibility.”

“So and so. Tell me everything you know regarding the Library Planet.”

“I was not privy to such data, Mastermind.”

“Then let me tell you what I have learned and you will help me extrapolate certain thoughts or possibilities regarding the Library Planet.”

The Mastermind related all that Maddox had once written regarding the Library Planet and deposited in Star Watch archives. He told her what Ludendorff had written. After Iris learned these things, she felt an abiding hatred for the Methuselah Man. Yes, Ludendorff had used her sexually and he thought he’d given her pleasure. But that had all happened in the service of the Spacers. Oh, how she hated the arrogant Methuselah Man. She hated him despite Ludendorff being a servant of the Builders, just like all Spacers. The glorious Builders who sought—

“Iris, your attention is wavering. And I do not care for the adoration you feel for those puppet masters.”

“Mastermind?”

“I refer to the Builders, those pesky aliens. Even if, in their wide-ranging forays, they did aid me in a way. Now speak quickly, tell me more of the Library Planet. What can you extrapolate regarding all that I have told you?”

Iris grew quiet as she assimilated facts, using her Spacer training.

“Lord, the Library Planet is an archive planet. It will hold much data regarding… I do not know if I have even an inkling of everything the Builders will have learned. Certainly, I suspect the archive planet will have collected much that the Builders have discovered throughout their many millennia of existence.

“But Master,” Iris dared say, “I thought you didn’t care for the Orion Spiral Arm. I thought you considered it a region of primitives and brutes who had nothing to offer such a unique being as yourself.”

“Oh Iris, Iris,” the Mastermind purred in her mind. “You dare to mock me. You dare to spit these things into my face. I speak in a metaphorical and allegorical way, one that your small, primitive mind can understand. Oh Iris, I see that I will have to deal differently with you. That I have been much too kind, much too sweet when—enough, I feel that you will learn better by actually tasting what is about to come, than by hearing about it.”

In moments began one of the most horrific—no, it was the most horrific experience Iris had ever felt. It was as if a dentist used a sonic drill and bored out one tooth at a time. The pain was excruciating. However, it wasn’t her teeth that the Mastermind drilled, but her consciousness and subconscious as he drilled for information, as he tore deep into her psyche and plucked one memory after another.

How her childhood had been so difficult because her mother had fled with a lover, leaving a distraught husband and child behind.

The Mastermind learned each of the unique things about Iris that she’d never told anyone, things she was ashamed to tell anyone. One after the other in a most painful manner he plucked them from her.

Iris would have screamed. She would have begged for mercy, but it was impossible as the sound in her mind, drills, raping away each of the vital pieces of information—

Iris understood that the Mastermind made a map of her personality, until with his superior analytical abilities he made an image of her that he recorded in a special place. Now, he knew her deeply. He knew her as no one else on this side of life could ever know. He knew all her secrets, all her darkness, all her shame, all her joys, all her hopes. She felt naked and wanted to crawl and cry and cover herself and hide in a hole.

“No,” the Mastermind said, “that is not going to happen. You are going to be my agent, Iris. I see now that I need to make a few modifications in your psyche. It will make you stronger. It will make you surer and wiser and able to trust your instincts.”

“Why, why,” she asked, “have you done this to me?”

“I have a mission for you, Iris. You want to leave the center of the galaxy. You no longer wish to view the brightness of the stars or to bask in my presence. Well then, you will go back. You will go back to that dirty, primate-infested, disgusting Orion Spiral Arm and there I shall have you be my agent. With your beauty, with your shameless wantonness like your unfaithful mother—”

“No,” Iris said, “I’m not like my mother.”

“But you are. For instance, look what you did with Professor Ludendorff.”

Iris moaned, realizing she was like her mother. She would do what she must. “Oh please.”

“Let us begin,” the Mastermind said. “This will hurt, my dear. It will hurt very much and then… Well, we shall worry about the rest later. For now, yes, I see that I need a tool: a living, thinking, breathing, sultry tool. And now Iris…”

The pain, the drilling began once more, as the Mastermind modified her personality, as he changed certain memories, as he rerouted thoughts and feelings and merged some together and gave her some new ones. It was a horrific process, and the entire time, the swirling colors whirled inside her head and she stood rigidly unable to move, unable to scream, unable to cry.

Iris endured. Then, as the process neared its end, she fell in love with the Mastermind. Certainly, it was a false feeling. He’d inserted it into her, perhaps as a backup to make sure that she obeyed every dictate that he’d given her. He planned to move in a subtle fashion, for he searched for—

Iris almost grasped the concept. The Mastermind searched for something critical, something vitally important to him. It would expand him greatly. Yes, it would expand the power of his mind and might.

What could this thing be?

“No,” the Mastermind said. “I will suppress that piece of curiosity. I am who I have told you I am. Now, you will do as I bid. Do you agree?”

“Oh yes,” Iris said, “I totally agree. You are absolutely right.”

“I may have gone overboard with you, Iris. But you are an interesting specimen and this is a new approach. Yes, let us see if love can achieve more than my other methods.”

Did the Mastermind chuckle? Did he laugh? No, not directly, but Iris did sense a vast mirth. It regarded her. Why would he laugh at her?

It was her last memory before, thankfully, the swirling colors detached from her. Iris slumped unconscious so she lay in the room of the terminal of the Mastermind.

-8-

Captain Maddox had searched every place and called every locale in the Earth-Luna region that he could think of. Still, the whereabouts of Professor Ludendorff was a mystery. No one had seen or heard from him for six entire weeks.

From Maddox’s search and questioning, Ludendorff had seemed jovial enough six weeks ago. He’d been pinching waitresses when he ate out and using his regular charm on those that were most susceptible to it. No one that Maddox had interviewed or spoken with could give him any reason why Ludendorff might have gone into hiding or might, in a fit of depression or anger or anything else, have gone sulking or whatever the case.

Ludendorff was simply, mysteriously, gone. Maddox contemplated that, and he did what he often did in these situations—hard physical exercise. In this case, he set off running. He was at home in Carson City and therefore he went into the rangeland, the desert land with the rabbit brush and its many paths.

At first, he walked briskly, and then started running. As he ran, he debated what could have happened to Ludendorff. Without him—

Maddox sprinted up a rise of ground, enjoying the challenge.

Without Ludendorff, how could they fix Galyan? The only other possibility was to go to the living Adoks. Unfortunately, they’d shown great and reasonable fear of deified Adok AIs. They’d suffered horribly because of them in the lost nebula system from last mission.

Thus, Maddox didn’t think he could persuade the Adoks to help with Galyan. That left them with Professor Ludendorff. Where could the Methuselah Man have—?

It struck Maddox who might know: his grandmother, Mary O’Hara.

Once, she’d run Star Watch Intelligence. That had been before Ludendorff had captured her and altered her mind. Afterward, no one had trusted her to run Intelligence.

Mary O’Hara had only recently regained her full faculties. Ludendorff had helped in that. The Lord High Admiral had installed her back in Intelligence, not with all of it, but to run certain secret missions.

The overall handling was in the hands of her former assistant, once Major Stokes, now Brigadier Stokes.

Mary and Ludendorff had become close after a fashion. Might she have used Ludendorff for a mission, telling no one?

Maddox pivoted, sprinting back for home. It was time to find his grandmother…if she was on Earth or Luna Station. It would be best to speak to her in person.

***

Several hours later, Maddox dropped from orbit in a shuttle. He’d pinpointed his grandmother’s location: Antarctica. Unfortunately, a storm was headed for her region, one not easily reached via flitter.

The shuttle descended into a fierce Antarctic blast. It threw Maddox about in his seat. Soon, the shuttle neared a ground station 200 kilometers from the South Pole.

Landing, heeding the advice from his panel, Maddox donned arctic gear. The hatch opened and he jumped into a howling, freezing storm. Incredibly, a parka-clad man was there, waiting. The man shouted, telling Maddox to grab a line.

Maddox saw where the man held on.

In moments, the two hand-over-handed along the line. They worked their way through the blizzard until they reached the station’s main hatch.

Inside, Maddox was shocked at the warmth, after shedding his winter garments and marching through a corridor, guided by the man. Maddox found himself in a room, standing in front of Mary O’Hara, once known as the Iron Lady. She’d been one of the best Intelligence commanders Star Watch ever had.

Mary was a matronly-looking lady with curly, gray hair, with a hint of Maddox in her eyes, at least. She smiled benignly, looking up from a console.

“Brigadier,” Maddox said.

“What brings you here, Captain?” Mary had been typing at a console and speaking into a machine.

There were maps and strange symbols strewn upon the walls. Maddox didn’t know what they meant, which was fine. His grandmother was obviously working on some project, which was good for her and likely good for Star Watch.

“Captain, is there a problem?” Mary asked. “Is that why you’re here to see your grandmother?”

The man who’d guided Maddox left, the door closing behind him.

“There is a problem,” Maddox admitted. “I can’t find Ludendorff. I’ve searched everywhere—but nothing. I’ve begun to wonder if you might know his location.”

“Me?” Mary asked. “Why should I know if nobody else does?”

Maddox grinned. “That doesn’t answer the question. As a matter of fact, it sounds like evasion. You know where he is. It’s obvious. I need to speak to him immediately.”

“Why would that be?”

Maddox pulled out a stool, sitting, and he told Mary about Galyan.

“Oh my. Yes, I understand.” Mary tapped the console while biting her lower lip. She turned to Maddox. “I’ve come to believe that Star Watch needs more information regarding Yon Soth technology. There are certain indications…” She shook her head. “I won’t go into the ramifications of the reasons why my suspicions have been aroused, but six weeks ago, I summoned the professor.”

Maddox sighed with relief, certain now that she knew where Ludendorff was.

“I sent him back to Omicron 9, the fourth planet,” Mary said.

Maddox shuddered, not liking the news.

Omicron 9, the fourth planet, and in particular, Professor Ludendorff—that had been the start of one of his strangest missions. It had sent him far across the Milky Way Galaxy into the Crowder System: a Yon Soth created place that had a barrier that no one could cross. In the barrier-imprisoned star system, the terrible Cthulhu-like aliens had… Well, they still weren’t quite sure what the Yon Soths had attempted in the Crowder System. The Yon Soths had used men like laboratory mice, it would seem.

Using all their resources, the crew of Victory had barely escaped from the system; and Maddox he had brought along a potential Builder.

The mission had started in Professor Ludendorff’s office on the fourth planet of Omicron 9 when a portal had appeared and Ardazirhos jumped out.

“Why did you send Ludendorff back there?” Maddox asked angrily.

“Now, now, Captain, you must understand that great information always comes at risk, often grave risk. Ludendorff was the right person to send. He’s busy collecting data and researching the machine, the one he had to leave so long ago after you disappeared there.”

“Not that long ago. All right,” Maddox stood. “I’m off to Omicron 9. I need to speak to the professor. Thanks for the help, Grandma.”

Mary O’Hara frowned. “I wish you wouldn’t go. But I can see and understand why Galyan…” Mary shook her head and studied her grandson. She stood and smiled, stepped to Maddox, and reached up, tenderly touching his cheek.

Surprised, Maddox blushed.

“A good day to you, dear,” Mary said. “And good luck.”

At that, Maddox headed out, moving swiftly. Soon, he was in the shuttle, headed for an orbital Star Watch destroyer. He called the Lord High Admiral, getting permission to use the nexus to go to the Omicron 9 System, which was nearly 300 light years away.

The destroyer approached the Builder nexus, built like a giant pyramid. After some quick instructions to the nexus commander, a hyper-spatial tube appeared. The destroyer entered it. In hardly a moment of time, the destroyer traveled over more than 300 light years, appearing in the Omicron 9 System.

After the crew and passengers had adjusted, the destroyer headed for the fourth planet. The Star Watch guard vessels received the recognition signals from the destroyer commander.

Soon enough, Maddox was on a shuttle heading down to the fourth planet, a windswept place that once housed a Yon Soth under the nubs of pyramids. Here the storms were much worse than in Antarctica, sending swirling particles of rust that could rip and shred like sandpaper.

The compound where Ludendorff worked was underground. The shuttle sped through, entering the hangar bay entrance and landing. A sense of déjà vu struck the captain. He’d been through this before. He hoped it would not have the same outcome.

A worried Kai-Kaus technician met him upon exiting the shuttle.

“Oh sir, this is terrible, terrible. Are you here for the professor?”

“Of course,” Maddox said. “Did Brigadier O’Hara call ahead?” The only thing that could have reached him before the hyper-spatial tube would have been a long-range Builder comm device call.

“No, no. She has not. The professor, the professor,” the small man wrung his hands.

“What about the professor?” Maddox asked, his forehead furrowing.

“I thought you knew. I thought that was why you had come. Oh, this is terrible, terrible. None of us knows what to do. Oh, this is so grave, so grave.”

“Spit it out man,” Maddox said stepping up, grasping the Kai-Kaus by the shirt. “Tell me what happened to the professor.”

“That is just it, Captain. He has disappeared. He disappeared while working on the machine. We have no idea where the professor went or what happened to him.”

-9-

Maddox grabbed the excited Kai-Kaus technician. “Listen to me. I want you to listen. Look at me.”

The man did.

“Tell me exactly what happened.”

The man bobbed his head. “Yes sir, yes sir. Do you want to see the place where Ludendorff disappeared?”

Maddox considered a moment. “Yes. As we go there, tell me what happened.”

“Oh, this is terrible, so terrible,” the technician said, wringing his hands. Like all Kai-Kaus, he was small and clever, particularly with machinery or technology.

They walked down a subterranean corridor, the lights overhead providing illumination.

“This way, this way,” the man said.

“I remember the route,” Maddox said, the feeling of déjà vu powerful from the last time he’d been here.

At that point, his intuitive sense, the one he’d gained from Balron the Traveler, kicked into gear. It told him—Maddox’s eyes narrowed as he glanced around. There was something peculiar at work here. Was it Yon Soth in origin or did it have something to do with the portal that had appeared last time he was here?

Maddox’s hand dropped to his holstered blaster. Along with a monofilament blade inside his boot, they were all the armaments he carried.

Maddox didn’t sense the opening of a portal, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. His intuitive sense was good, as it told him much, but it wasn’t an omniscient sensitivity.

Maddox realized that the technician had ceased speaking, though they continued to move down the corridor. “Tell me more,” Maddox said.

“Sir,” the technician said, “our usual protocol after the daily meeting was the professor went to the machine. He’d become excited and had told us to keep back because he was going to attempt something new. We tried to tell him, sir. We tried to tell him it was too dangerous to do it alone.”

“Never mind that,” Maddox said. “Just tell me what happened.”

“There’s not much more to say. The professor went into the chamber, the hatch closed behind him and we waited.”

“How long?”

“Six hours.”

“Six hours you left him alone in there?”

“Yes, sir,” the man said, his gaze downcast.

“And?”

“And when we opened the hatch, he was gone. We couldn’t find him anywhere. We didn’t find any residue of unusual power surges or other energy readings. We tried everything, sir. Everything.”

“Did you see what the professor had done to the machine?”

“We couldn’t tell in the slightest.”

Maddox eyed the man. Yes. The technician had told the truth. “Take me directly to the machine.”

“That’s where we’re headed, sir.”

Maddox nodded. “Tell me exactly what you’ve been doing and how you’ve been proceeding with the machine.”

The Kai-Kaus began to explain, much of it incomprehensible to Maddox, as it was technical jargon with strange mathematics. He didn’t interrupt, though, but listened even as the Kai-Kaus took out a tablet and showed him odd symbols and went over various protocols.

Maddox listened so he could perceive the general pattern even though he didn’t understand each logical step.

They reached the chamber. It was a cavernous area. The machine was massive, black and asymmetrical, built with odd curves, angles and weird control venues. It was of nonhuman make.

“Is it a Yon Soth machine?” Maddox asked.

“Not precisely,” the technician said. “We’ve made some guesses from old schematics and added to it. The professor mainly did that.”

Maddox muttered under his breath, shaking his head. These men tampered with energies and technologies they didn’t fully comprehend. It was a dangerous game, Ludendorff’s disappearance proving that.

Even so, Maddox examined the giant machine, looking at it, studying it, seeing if some intuitive hint could tell him what had happened. He prowled around the machine and then the rest of the chamber, searching, thinking, attempting to feel what had happened to Ludendorff. Despite every gambit, prodding and even turning a switch or two—the machine didn’t respond to that—Maddox couldn’t tell what had happened.

During the proceeding, the tech moved to the back, watching Maddox warily.

Several times, Maddox glanced at the man, wondering if he were hiding something.

Is there something more going on here?

The Kai-Kaus had always been loyal to him and had never shown any propensity for treachery. Nor had they hired out to others.

Years ago at the Builder Dyson Sphere, Maddox had saved 10,000 Kai-Kaus. As a group, they’d remained grateful and thankful for his effort. In truth, Maddox had never found a people like them, and he appreciated and trusted their loyalty.

He glanced once more at the technician.

The small man shifted uncomfortably.

“Is there something else you’d like to tell me?” Maddox asked.

“Sir?” this technician said.

Maddox didn’t want to give the man the impression he distrusted him, yet he moved closer. “What is it? What aren’t you telling me?”

“Well sir…there is one reading we’ve debated amongst ourselves. I didn’t mention it because the possibilities are too frightening.”

Maddox sighed, looked up at the ceiling and then gave the man a piercing scrutiny. “Tell me the ramifications of this possibility. Tell me the nature of your disagreement with each other.”

“Yes sir. If you’ll step over here, then…”

The Kai-Kaus indicated the giant machine and a particular reading on an oddly angled screen. He droned on with an arcane explanation as to what it meant.

Maddox didn’t understand the relevancy of the explanation. Then his intuitive sense pinged. He turned sharply, touched his chest and then stomach. What an odd sensation. He looked around and once again, an odd tingling sensation struck, first in his chest. This time, there was a long moment of the sensation, another long moment of it and then one more. Afterward, there were three short taps against his stomach. Next, there was a long, long, long feeling against his chest.

At that moment, Maddox understood. That was SOS in ancient Morse code, which meant danger or a warning. Here, in this chamber—it must be a call for help.

Or a warning.

Maddox stepped back smartly, looking at the Kai-Kaus. Next, he looked at the giant black machine and recalled some of the things the tech had said. Maddox looked about the room, and squinted as if he strove to see something.

“Sir, what’s the matter?”

Maddox whirled around and stared at the Kai-Kaus. “I want you to reproduce the exact actions the professor took before he disappeared.”

“But that is just it, sir,” the technician said, throwing up his hands. “We don’t know what the professor did.”

“I see, I see,” Maddox said, thinking hard. He snapped his fingers and told the Kai-Kaus to bring specific machines and sensors into the chamber.

The Kai-Kaus produced a comm device and rapped orders through it.

Soon, the cavernous chamber crawled with other Kai-Kaus technicians. They used the new machines and sensors they’d wheeled into the chamber with them. They studied infrared, heat and other energy readings. Nothing showed up on their screens.

Maddox didn’t feel any of the odd sensations of earlier, either. Yet, his intuitive sense was sharp and intense. In some fashion, Ludendorff was here with them. Ludendorff was here and yet he was not here.

Maddox breathed deeply as he realized he was agitated and was becoming more agitated as he watched the clever technicians at work. He breathed calmly then as he sought the Way of the Pilgrim.

Maddox calmed his mind as he let his intuitive sense roam. He used the inner Erill spiritual energy that gave him greater passion to do than he’d possessed before the energy.

Almost like a sleepwalker, Maddox moved to the giant black machine, one made from Yon Soth schematics. Maddox touched an instrument here and activated a device there.

The Kai-Kaus technicians stared at him in shock and dismay, but didn’t try to stop him.

Maddox went to a different panel, turned indictors—a combined gasp emanated from the watching technicians. Maddox turned to see a shimmering outline of a man in the middle off the chamber.

“Ludendorff,” said one of techs.

Maddox eyed the giant machine before shaking his head. This was beyond him. He’d done as much as he dared. He didn’t know what to do next.

One of the technicians raced to the machine—the Kai-Kaus who’d shown Maddox to the chamber. He shouted orders in the Kai-Kaus language at the others.

The others took up various stations at the new machines. They ran analyses. Others went to the giant black machine and operated indicators, pressed buttons and turned dials, which was odd for such an advanced machine. Why have such archaic control systems?

A holographic imager began to buzz. The Kai-Kaus chief shouted with glee. He hurried to it and tapped a precise sequence upon it.

In the middle of the chamber, Methuselah Man Ludendorff solidified into view. He stared at all of them, and then he collapsed onto the floor.

-10-

Fortunately, Maddox was able to revive the professor with a few slaps to the cheek. It started out with a tap but turned into sharper slaps.

Ludendorff’s eyes snapped open as he scowled. “Must you hit me while I’m unconscious?”

Maddox grinned, holding out a hand. “Do you feel good enough to stand?”

“Not yet,” Ludendorff said angrily. “I want to lie here and relax a moment.”

Maddox nodded, standing.

Ludendorff looked as normal as ever: a handsome, white-haired, leathery-faced man wearing his ubiquitous gold chain and white lab coat. Underneath was a blue shirt with the first three buttons undone.

Maddox glanced around. He didn’t see any female assistants, which was unusual for the Methuselah Man. Ludendorff liked to surround himself with beautiful women. His last two assistants—Clarice and Iris—Maddox scowled. He remembered Clarice. She’d died in a lonely starship, with him as the only witness to her passing. Maddox shook his head, shaking off the memory.

“What happened to you, old man? Where have you been?”

The technicians waited, watching expectantly.

Ludendorff glanced around, seeing them. “Ah. I begin to perceive. How did you gentlemen come to decide to call Maddox to come to Omicron 9 to revive me?”

“Perhaps you aren’t aware, but you’ve been gone for…” Maddox glanced at the chief technician.

“Five days,” the technician said.

“What?” Ludendorff said. “That’s preposterous. Five days. You’re saying that for five days I was…?” he glanced at Maddox. “I’ve really been gone five days?”

“Exactly,” Maddox said. “What happened to you? And were you the one who caused the sensations in my chest and stomach?”

“Ah, so I did sense you,” Ludendorff said. “I actually did touch you. That’s interesting.”

“What in the world did you do? Why were you gone or disappeared?”

As spry as could be, the Methuselah Man climbed to his feet and straightened his garments, ignoring Maddox’s question.

Ludendorff moved to the giant black machine. “I didn’t realize it would work with such speed and precision. I think it cast me…” he looked at all of them. “I think the machine cast me into an offset but near dimension, one that is combined with our own.”

“What do you mean?” said Maddox.

“This is most interesting, actually,” Ludendorff said, scratching a cheek. “Could the Yon Soths have…?” His eyes burned with passion. “This is, this is—I must work on this. I must take advantage of this while I can. Could the Yon Soths have found the portals in such a way? Did they create the portals with machines such as this?”

“I thought you built the grisly thing from ancient schematics,” Maddox said, glancing at the technician.

The Kai-Kaus shrank back from Maddox.

Ludendorff glanced at the tech and then at the captain. “Yes, yes, some of it came from schematics. Some of the old machinery we simply found. Some survived the—oh, never mind about that. You’re here for a reason other than this. Do you have a message from O’Hara or…”

The professor’s eyes rose and widened, showing the whites around his blue eyes. “Has Dana come back?” he asked in a throaty voice. “Is that why you are here? Has Dana come to see me? Has she come to beg my forgiveness after all this time? Has she come to her senses?”

“This has nothing to do with Dana or with my grandmother. It has to do with Galyan.”

“Galyan?” the professor said, sounding disappointed. “The egocentric AI. What does Galyan have to do with your coming all the way to Omicron 9?”

Maddox glanced at the gathered Kai-Kaus before looking again at Ludendorff. “I’d like to talk with you in private, Professor.”

Ludendorff grumbled under his breath, looking longingly at the machine and then at his assistants and helpers. “Oh, very well, very well, we’ll go to my office, if that’s all right with you.”

“Yes,” Maddox said.

The sense of déjà vu was strong as Maddox followed Ludendorff down the corridors, taking turns this way and that, going through a secure hatch, and then once more coming to the professor’s office.

Some years ago, his journey to the Crowder System had started in this exact office as a portal appeared and humanoid, wolf-like aliens had jumped through. Maddox had jumped into the portal and begun his bizarre adventure.

Gingerly, after looking around first, Maddox sat in a chair.

Ludendorff sat behind his desk, opened a drawer and took out a bottle of cognac and two glasses. He poured a generous portion into each glass. He picked up his and waited.

Maddox reached across the desk and picked up the other glass.

Ludendorff clinked glasses with Maddox. “To my grand success. What I’ve sought, I’ve achieved.” Ludendorff gulped the cognac and smacked his lips, pouring himself more.

Maddox barely sipped his drink. He felt too uneasy to do more than that. He stood and backed away, watching the walls, first one and then the other.

“You’re a paranoid one, aren’t you, Captain? Surely, by now…oh,” Ludendorff said as he glanced behind him. “Yes, yes, it all started here, didn’t it? What is it now? Two, three years ago?” He drained the glass, setting it on the desk. “I know you know what it’s like to achieve such a success. My successes, however, are not usually of a military variety. I have a scientific mind, inquiring into the mysteries of the galaxy. I have just solved one. I’ve just achieved a miracle.”

“And nearly got yourself killed—or sent to a different dimension,” Maddox said.

“No matter, no matter. I’m a man of great courage and tenacity. In the pursuit of science, I’ll dare any danger. That you must know. And now, I’ve achieved a marvel, a wondrous marvel, indeed. I’ll study this until I’ve gained every facet from the technology. And this will—”

“Now just a minute,” Maddox said, interrupting. “I need your help first. You’re coming back with me to Earth.”

Ludendorff slapped the desktop. “That’s preposterous. Don’t you see what I’ve done? For days, I’ve been in this other dimension or other… I don’t even know what to call it. You’ve been to different dimensions before. You certainly must realize the wondrous import of what I’ve discovered.”

“Professor, you almost killed yourself. You don’t really know what you’re doing. This is technology far above—”

“Now see here, you young whippersnapper. I’m a Methuselah Man. I’ve a mind unlike that of any of the human race. I’m a genius. Surely this proves it.”

“Of course, a genius,” Maddox said.

“Do you dispute that?”

“No, no. Of course I don’t dispute that.” Maddox did need Ludendorff to fix Galyan. Who else could do that? Maybe no one else. Thus, the professor was a genius. “Now, look here, Professor, Galyan is in desperate need of your help.”

“Oh, confound it. What happened this time?”

Maddox gave the professor a quick rundown.

“A-ha,” Ludendorff cried. “The deified AI once more got himself destroyed, and once more, everyone runs to me, Professor Ludendorff, to fix him. Where would Star Watch be, where would any of you be, without my genius, without my intellect?”

“Professor, you did gloriously by reaching this other realm. I’m glad I was here to bring you back before you died of starvation over there.”

Ludendorff’s eyes narrowed. He nodded sharply. “Yes, I suppose—yes, thank you. I appreciate your help.”

“I’m happy to have been of assistance.”

“I know why you’re saying that. You’re hoping that by your goodwill, I’ll show you goodwill in turn and go with you to fix Galyan.”

“Now, really, Professor, we need Galyan. We need to know happened at Star Watch Headquarters. It appears… I think you’ll find this interesting. It has to do with Ardazirhos and possible portals. Perhaps it’s connected to what you’re attempting to do with the machine.”

“Hmm. You have a point. Yes, perhaps it would be wise to find out what Galyan saw and why the treacherous wolves are going into Star Watch Headquarters. Oh, very well. I shall go and repair the confounded Adok machine and then I can come back here and finish my research.”

“That’s quite gracious of you, Professor.”

“I know, I know, and it’s good of you to say so.”

Soon after that, Ludendorff packed a few belongings and they headed to the shuttle. The shuttle lifted off and headed back to the Star Watch destroyer that had brought Maddox to the fourth planet. The destroyer headed to the nexus in the Omicron 9 System that they’d found several missions ago. The procedures for a hyper-spatial tube began.

“Everything is ready,” the destroyer commander said.

At that point, as the destroyer nosed toward the hyper-spatial tube entrance, the communications officer jerked up. “Sir,” the woman said, “there’s an emergency call from the commander of security of the Omicron 9 System.”

“Go on,” the destroyer commander said.

Maddox and Ludendorff both perked up from where they sat.

“He received it from the long-range Builder comm device, sir. It’s from Brigadier Mary O’Hara.” The communications officer turned and looked at Maddox. “The message is for you, sir.”

“What is it?” Maddox asked.

As the comm tech turned to her board, the destroyer entered the hyper-spatial tube. It thus began its near-instantaneous journey to wherever the nexus tube extended.

-11-

The Star Watch destroyer exited the hyper-spatial tube in a region beyond Earth-Luna. This was in order to keep it out of any traffic or competing hyper-spatial tubes from the Earth nexus.

Soon, the destroyer’s comm officer spoke to Mary O’Hara in her Antarctica station.

Maddox learned that his Uncle, Golden Ural, wished to speak with him regarding an urgent matter about something that had taken place on the Library Planet.

Thus, at emergency speed, the destroyer headed for Earth. In less than an hour, Maddox and Ludendorff were in a shuttle heading for Victory.

“I wonder what your uncle is so keen to speak to you about,” Ludendorff said.

“Indeed,” Maddox said.

Soon enough, the shuttle landed in a Victory docking bay and the two alighted.

“Professor,” Maddox said, “I’d like you to contact Andros immediately. The two of you can make a preliminary study of Galyan.”

“Do I still have my security clearance?” Ludendorff asked, with an eyebrow arched.

“You know you do.”

“Just checking. One never knows.”

Maddox left the professor, hoping the Methuselah Man would get started sooner rather than later.

Maddox headed for a hangar-bay exit and hurried through a corridor, breaking into a sprint. His Uncle, Golden Ural, exiled from the New Men Throne World ever since the Emperor—Maddox flexed his right hand, the regrown one. He hated the Emperor casually lopping off his forearm during their duel.

Thinking about it, Maddox turned a corner at high speed, moving faster than a normal man could sprint. In truth, he was the equal of the top New Men sprinters, who were better at everything except producing daughters.

Maddox smiled to himself. In that one respect, he was superior to the New Men.

Well, no, he corrected himself, superior to the old New Men. From what the Emperor had taken back from the Library Planet and with Methuselah Man Strand’s help, the New Man might have finally solved that riddle. These days, they might be able to sire daughters as well as sons.

That would be good in one respect. The New Men would no longer need to kidnap women in order to find wives for all the endless sons they were raising. The New Men were like a nation of satyrs in the sense they reproduced endlessly, each with a harem of females.

Maddox reached the Long-Range Builder Comm Device Chamber, entering and sitting near a bulky piece of equipment in the center of the room. It sat upon what looked like a coffee table. Maddox closed the hatch behind him, sat on the comfortable sofa and picked up the microphone.

In moments, he contacted Golden Ural across many light years of space. This was a marvelous piece of Builder equipment, far superior to normal communications, which could not travel faster than light.

“Hello, Uncle,” Maddox said.

“Ah, Captain Maddox,” Golden Ural said. “It is so good to speak to you again. It has been some time.”

“It has, Uncle. Is all well with you, I hope?”

“Since you’re calling, you know it is not. I’ve wished to speak to you urgently and to you alone.”

“You couldn’t tell Brigadier O’Hara?”

“Your grandmother is a clever woman, no doubt, but…” Golden Ural chuckled. “As much as I’ve tried, I cannot shrug off the sense of our superiority. It’s difficult even to speak to one as O’Hara, as I’m not sure she can comprehend all I have to say.”

Maddox steeled himself. He hadn’t spoken with any New Men for some time. Even his Uncle Ural had a lordly sense of racial superiority. The New Men were supposedly a leap forward in human evolution, as far above a regular human as a regular human would be from a Homo habilis, a 100-pound, five-foot precursor to man, as an evolutionist would say. In any case, Maddox wasn’t so certain the New Men were that superior to regular men, although they certainly possessed advanced thinking capacities as well as better physical attributes.

“Uncle, you said you had an urgent message.”

“First, may I ask, have you had any contact with the Throne World?”

“None of us have since the incident at the Library Planet.”

“I assume you refer to the duel?”

“Yes,” Maddox said in a clipped manner.

“Oh, that’s too bad. I’ve not had any news, either, and it’s difficult for me to get the Supreme Intelligence to say much about happenings on the Throne World.”

The Supreme Intelligence of which Golden Ural spoke was a Builder artifact: more than a computer, but less than a biological entity. The time Maddox had been at the Library Planet, a huge screen had shown a giant green head. That had been a terminal for the Supreme Intelligence. One of its main functions had been keeping Balron the Traveler from going back to his dimension, the same Balron who’d given Maddox his new intuitive sense.

“Well Uncle, we’re speaking, and you still haven’t told me about this urgent matter. I’d imagine if it’s so urgent you would have already relayed the incident.”

“Now, now, Captain. No need for any disrespect to your uncle.”

“No disrespect was intended, sir.”

“Captain, I’ve kept in some touch through various agencies about happenings on Earth. I know that you understand who the Yon Soths are.”

Maddox nodded glumly. The Yon Soths were a Cthulhu-like species, often called Old Ones. They never had anything good to impart to humanity. Despite Ludendorff’s breakthrough with the machine, in Maddox’s opinion, they should quarantine the entire fourth planet of the Omicron 9 System.

“Go on, Uncle.”

“Do you remember the C.I. Nubilus?”

“I remember it quite well.”

The ship had been from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy with a crew of Ardazirhos, wolf-like bipedal aliens. There had been some strange incidents in the Library Planet System, a time warp, as Maddox had gone back in time on the ship, before escaping back into his normal time.

“I’ll get to the point,” Ural said. “A team of humanoid wolves appeared through a portal here at the Library Planet.”

“Indeed,” Maddox said.

“The Ardazirhos breached our security systems. Fortunately, I’d taken a few extra precautions. Those precautions sounded the alarm. I activated a security team and led them myself. In an ensuing engagement, I slew several Ardazirhos. I’ve since dissected them and have found nothing extraordinary other than to confirm that they’re the same species we dealt with from the C.I. Nubilus.”

“And?” Mattox asked.

“Several escaped.”

“Do you mean escaped through a portal?”

“Yes, I witnessed it myself. The portal appeared and the wolves leaped through, taking whatever they’d stolen from the Supreme Intelligence’s archives.”

“Archives?” Maddox asked.

“That means something to you?” Golden Ural asked.

“It might.”

“You’re being evasive, Nephew.”

Maddox thought about it, finally saying, “We also had an incident with several Ardazirhos. As far as we can tell, they used a portal to break into Star Watch archives.”

“When did this occur?”

“A week ago,” Maddox said.

“Aha. Our incident has occurred less than twenty-our hours ago. One preceded the other. Is there a connection between them? The attack against your archives may have led to their attack here. I wonder what they found in your archives.”

“That’s an interesting speculation,” Maddox said. “Do you think they found something about the Library Planet?”

“I’m beginning to think so.”

“Do you have any idea what sort of data they were able to retrieve from the Supreme Intelligence?”

“I do. That’s why I thought it best to warn you. I believe it has something to do with the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan.”

“What?” Maddox said, surprised by the direction of the news.

In a jump, many years ago, Starship Victory had gone to the Scutum–Centaurus Spiral Arm. There, they’d found a political entity or organization known as the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan. Cyber soldiers had held various alien species enthralled in a unified government. On a different mission, Victory had engaged a Leviathan warship in the Omicron 9 System. The warship had been fifteen kilometers in diameter, dwarfing any Star Watch vessel except for alien Juggernauts and an alien Destroyer of the Nameless Ones.

“Can you be more precise about this lost data?” Maddox asked.

“Stolen data; not lost data, as the Supreme Intelligence still has the data in his memory banks.”

“Please continue,” Maddox said.

“The Ardazirhos extracted data regarding a region of space approximately six thousand light years from Earth, and in the direction of the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan. That means, from your frame of reference, in the direction of the center of the galaxy.”

“And?” asked Maddox.

“It appears, from what we’ve been able to divine, that the Ardazirhos were most interested in a planet that held an object of which they desired greater data.”

“How does that affect us here at the Commonwealth?”

“I’m not sure,” Ural admitted. “However, the Supreme Intelligence is concerned. He feels—oh, I didn’t want to say this. Captain, are you alone?”

“Yes,” Maddox said.

“Captain, are you alone?”

Maddox looked about the room. He couldn’t sense any eavesdropping devices. Galyan was out of commission, so the holoimage couldn’t be eavesdropping in ghost mode.

“Yes, Uncle, I’m alone.”

“As a curator for the Supreme Intelligence, I’ve been privy to much of what he has learned. This may startle you, and it may not, but the Supreme Intelligence is privy to much that Star Watch Intelligence has learned over the years.”

“I see,” Maddox said, “meaning you’ve stolen Star Watch secrets.”

“That would be one way to say it. However, the Supreme Intelligence is interested only in peace, not in conquest. So, his knowledge does not present any danger to the Commonwealth.”

“That’s a matter of opinion.”

“Do you trust me?” Ural asked.

“Not with the security of the Commonwealth.”

“I understand,” Ural said, “and take no insult from it. However, I tell you this next item only to let you know that we’re aware of your encounter with one called the Mastermind.”

Maddox said nothing.

“The Supreme Intelligence believes the Ardazirhos who attacked us and retrieved this data are agents of the Mastermind. We believe he’s interested in this planet that contains an item he greatly desires.”

“Why should I care about that?”

“That, Nephew, is what I’d like to know. The Supreme Intelligence feels that in some way all this involves Earth.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.”

Maddox thought about that. “Do you think the Mastermind has designs upon the Commonwealth?”

“Not directly, no.”

“Then what’s your real worry? I wish you’d come out and say it.”

For a time, Ural was silent.

The silence lasted so long that at last Maddox said, “Are you still there?”

“Yes.”

“Uncle, if you’d speak plainly…”

“The Supreme Intelligence is desirous to know why this Mastermind has stolen the data from him. He would also like to know how the Mastermind came upon it and what he is going to do with the knowledge at this planet six thousand light years from Earth. From what we’ve been able to divine, this being, the entity called the Mastermind is normally not interested in this region of the galaxy. But, you did stumble upon his agents in the Crowder System, yes?”

“That was one hundred thousand light years from here.”

“I know. It’s troubling nonetheless. How did the Mastermind learn enough to send agents to a precise location at Star Watch Headquarters? Then, how did he know to come here to the Library Planet?”

“I see the direction of your thoughts,” Maddox said. “You’re asking us to send a Patrol team six thousand light years from Earth in order to assuage the curiosity of the Supreme Intelligence.”

“There’s more to it than curiosity. I do think it would be wise for the Patrol to send Victory to the general area.”

“The one six thousand light years away?” Maddox asked.

“Yes.”

“That will be a hard sell over here.”

“I understand. Yet I think it’s in our common interest. In this situation, we should work together.”

“We’d assuage your curiosity. What would you do for us?”

“Help coordinate data.”

“And?” asked Maddox.

“What more do you want? Are you asking me to join you?”

“No,” Maddox said.

“I’d be an asset to the team.”

“No doubt,” Maddox said. “But I suspect there’s only room enough on Victory for one of us.”

Ural sighed. “Perhaps you’re right. We might soon be at each other’s throat. Such an event I wish to avoid. Know this, however, by what I’ve learned concerning the data theft here, the situation demands Victory’s attention out there. It could be critical to both of us.”

“You and me?” asked Maddox. “I thought we went over that.”

“No,” Ural said. “I mean the Library Planet and Earth.”

Maddox debated with himself. Did he want to go six thousand light years away for the Supreme Intelligence? He didn’t think so. Still… “How about this, I’ll relay the message?”

“That’s all I can ask…except for one other thing.”

“Yes?”

“That you put your weight behind the request.”

“I’ll consider it,” Maddox said.

“Thank you. Now, I must attend to other matters, as we still have a situation on our hands.”

“That sounds like trouble,” Maddox said. “Do you want us to send a battle group to the Library Planet? We can be there within the hour.”

“No, no, that would be a bad idea. We can take care of matter here. It’s just… I can say no more. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me.”

“Of course,” Maddox said.

Ural thereupon cut the connection.

Maddox sat back, becoming thoughtful. He’d have to go see his grandmother and possibly talk to the Lord High Admiral. What would they say about all this? What did he think about it?

-12-

Via comm, Maddox told his grandmother and then the Lord High Admiral what his Uncle Ural had told him.

Afterward, he went to see how Ludendorff and Andros were doing. They were hard at work, answering him in monosyllables, obviously absorbed with their task of repairing Galyan.

Maddox left, debating taking a shuttle down to visit Meta and Jewel. He vid-linked instead, talking to Jewel, catching up on her frog catching and keeping. He laughed with delight at her wooden box with its interior grass and the coffee tin full of water as the frog pond. Jewel had three frogs, having named them Riker, Galyan and Milo. He admired her notebook detailing the number of crickets and flies each frog ate. She already had three days of records.

“That’s good, darling,” Maddox said.

Shortly thereafter, he received a call from the Lord High Admiral, who wanted further details about the Golden Ural communication. When Cook asked for a precise location regarding the planet six thousand light years from Earth, Maddox realized he still hadn’t looked it up.

“I’ll check back with you soon, sir.”

Maddox went to the stellar chart chamber, locating the area. It was several hundred light years across and in depth and was thus not precise in the least. The area as a whole was indeed six thousand light years away, farther than the Earth nexus could send a starship.

Maddox thought about that. A better idea would be to use the Omicron 9 nexus. Even then, if the Omicron 9 nexus extended a hyper-spatial tube to its greatest length, a starship would still need to travel another 500 light years to reach the general region.

Victory was the obvious vessel for the mission as Ural had indicated.

Indeed, as Cook had pointed a half hour ago, this was the reason Maddox had received his new writ of Planetary Plenipotentiary authority. It was why Victory was a permanent Patrol vessel.

Yawning, realizing he needed some rest, Maddox went to his quarters, falling asleep. A buzz woke him.

Ludendorff said, “I believe Galyan is about to be reconnected with reality. You may want to be here, Captain.”

Maddox thanked him groggily, went to the lavatory, splashed water on his face and found himself hurrying for the center of the starship. Shortly, he entered the high security chamber.

Large cubes, conical connectors and computer banks, and a few other exotic pieces of equipment, made up the entirety of the Builder/Adok/Human-improved system.

Andros and Ludendorff watched the main AI housing. Lights blinked as the machine hummed.

Maddox noticed the holo-projector was different, a jury-rigged system if ever there was one.

“We didn’t have any spares,” Ludendorff said, perhaps noting the direction of Maddox’s gaze. “It should work for now. But we really need to speak to the Adoks or perhaps return to the Glenna Nebula.”

“On no account,” Maddox said. “The last is out of the question.”

Ludendorff shrugged. “The holo-projector should work. The key is that we’ve realigned Galyan so he is now back in sync with reality.”

“How could he ever be out of sync with reality?” Maddox asked.

Ludendorff shook his head. “I shouldn’t expect you to understand. It’s a technical term. Let’s see. I mean linked to the regular time sense that you and I share. For Galyan, in there…since the accident—”

A spark of energy caused a sharp whine from the projector.

Maddox glanced at Andros and Ludendorff in alarm.

“Let’s give it a moment,” Ludendorff said. He inched closer to the jury-rigged projector, worry etched on his leathery face.

Abruptly, the whine settled into a hum. Moments later, a shimmering holoimage of Driving Force Galyan appeared. The entire holoimage shifted like bad TV reception before solidifying.

“Emergency, emergency,” Galyan said.

“Calm down,” Maddox said. “We’re right here.”

“I see that,” Galyan said. “I find that astonishing. You look just as you did five hundred years ago.”

“What?” Maddox said.

Galyan glanced at Ludendorff, “You too, Professor, although I more expected you to look similar. Andros, you also received special longevity treatments. I am glad that is so.”

“What are you talking about?” Maddox asked.

“His reality was different from ours, remember?” Ludendorff said.

“Reality?” Galyan asked. “Do you mean my subjective time sense was off?”

“Exactly,” Ludendorff said.

“I, I have not been away for five hundred years?” Galyan asked.

“What complete nonsense,” Ludendorff said. “In my estimation—” He turned to Andros.

Andros nodded.

Ludendorff regarded Galyan again. “It’s only been a few days since the incident.”

“A few days, no, no,” Galyan said. “I have spent long swathes of time alone. I have debated endlessly upon all sorts of matters. I have solved so many conundrums and what seemingly were illogical statements—I correlated them during these long years of solitude.” The holoimage eyelids fluttered briefly. “Are the Adoks—do the Adoks still live? Have they survived the centuries?”

“Galyan,” Maddox said. “You must calm yourself. Your time sense was off. You’ve been gone days, not five hundred years.”

“How can I be calm?” Galyan asked. “Are the Adoks dead? Is that what why you seek to keep me calm? Oh, this is a disaster. I so wanted to engage with them. I so wanted to lead them to glory. My people, my people—” Galyan made a loud keening sound.

“Galyan,” Maddox said stepping up, sweeping his hand, causing a distortion as his hand swept through the holoimage.

The jury-rigged projector made a high-pitched noise.

Galyan spoke, but the words came out garbled.

Ludendorff burst into action, jumping to the base of the projector. He opened a plate, snatched a sonic screwdriver from a lab-coat pocket and a different device, kneeling as he made quick adjustments.

The distortions became worse as Galyan flickered in and out. Abruptly, he solidified. He stared at Ludendorff, stared at the captain and then stared at Andros.

“What just happened?” Galyan asked.

Ludendorff climbed to his feet. “I just fixed you.”

Galyan stared at the holo-projector. “That is not an Adok machine.”

“You noticed, eh?” Ludendorff said. “It’s one of my own designs. I developed it these past few hours. Frankly, it’s a miracle of my ingenuity and genius, but I don’t suppose anyone else is going to give me much credit for it.”

Maddox mumbled under his breath before he cleared his throat and said, “You’re right, Professor. It was true genius. It’s what you’re so good at. I congratulate you.”

The Methuselah Man puffed out his chest, standing a little straighter as he nodded. “Thank you, thank you. I know I deserve the accolades, but it’s good to see that others can recognize my gifts.”

“Captain,” Galyan said, “what happened to the Adoks?”

“Now look here, Galyan,” Maddox said, “we’ve just informed you that you didn’t spend five hundred years in solitude. This sort of thing has happened before. Don’t you remember?”

Galyan’s eyelids fluttered. “Oh yes, yes. It has happened before. Then the Adoks are alive?”

“Of course they’re alive,” Maddox said. “Do we have to go to the star system and see them to prove it to you?”

“Could we? Could we?” Galyan asked.

Maddox kept an exasperated look off his face by concentrating and staring at the holoimage.

“Emergency, emergency,” Galyan said abruptly. “Ardazirhos have cracked Star Watch security and entered the archive area. Sir, they directed their weapons at me. That is what caused my disruption. That is what caused these energy blasts here in the heart of Victory.”

“We’re well aware of that,” Maddox said.

“Sir,” Galyan said, “I have a good idea what they were seeking. They wanted information regarding the Library Planet and Supreme Intelligence upon it.”

Maddox stared silently at Galyan. “You’re certain of this?”

“Completely sir,” Galyan said. “Aha! I have just started up my personality analyzer. You think and deem this information important.”

“It could be extremely important,” Maddox said.

“What’s this?” Ludendorff asked. “What happened?”

“Ardazirhos attacked an area on the Library Planet,” Maddox said. “My Uncle Ural called me and told me about it.”

“Fascinating,” Ludendorff said. “What does it all mean?”

Maddox told them what he knew.

“Oh my,” Galyan said. “This is critical. We must go at once to this region of space six thousand light years from here.”

“I’m not sure I can agree with that,” Ludendorff said. “I’ve repaired Galyan, having done my part. I don’t think you need me for any trip that far from Omicron 9.”

“And if the holo-projector ceases to work during the journey?” Maddox asked.

“I can show Andros what to do,” Ludendorff said.

“Begging your pardon,” Andros said. “I don’t think I have your particular genius with ad-hoc repairs like this.”

“I know, I know,” Ludendorff said with a sigh. “Why is it my gift that I’m always the indispensable man? I do not want to go, Captain. This sounds like a dangerous mission and I have the machine on Omicron 9 to work on.”

“You’re not interested in what the Mastermind might be seeking at this planet?” Maddox asked.

“That’s only true if Golden Ural, that is to say, if the Supreme Intelligence has correctly divined the Mastermind’s desire.”

“You have point about that,” Maddox said.

“I’m glad you understand my reluctance to go,” Ludendorff said.

Maddox refrained from saying more. He soon took his leave in order to inform the Lord High Admiral that Galyan was functional again.

-13-

Mary O’Hara, aka the Iron Lady, was angry and upset. She boarded a shuttle, leaving her station in Antarctica and crossing half the world to land in Geneva, Switzerland Sector. It was evening there. Mary exited the shuttle and took an air car to Star Watch Headquarters.

The Lord High Admiral intercepted her before Mary reached the main building. “Why, this is a pleasure,” he said in greeting. “Would you come this way, please?”

Mary stared at the old man of Star Watch. Cook stooped more since the last time she’d seen him. Despite that, he was still like an oak tree and still represented the determination of Star Watch in his white admiral’s uniform with his craggy features and fatherly manner.

“It’s good of you to see me, sir. Where should we go?”

They walked along a path heading toward some lights. It was summer in Geneva but it must have been a little colder than what the Admiral was used to, as he shivered some.

An aide soon trotted up and gave him a large coat. Cook shrugged it on.

Mary wore summer clothing and didn’t feel any chill, as her days in Antarctica had inured her to these mild temperatures.

The two walked under night lamps and soon sat on a bench with trees around them. A light breeze caused leaves to rustle.

“It’s beautiful here,” Mary said.

Cook put his hands on his knees, regarding her. “You’re unhappy about something.”

“Yes,” Mary said, “your plan about sending Maddox far away.”

“He couldn’t have told you, as I haven’t told him yet.”

Mary kept a poker face. “I have sources of intelligence other than through my grandson.”

Cook scowled. “You no longer run Intelligence. You have—”

“I know what I have, and you know my concern for my grandson.”

Cook straightened his stooped shoulders. “Mary O’Hara, you’ll leave the running of Star Watch to me, and that includes Captain Maddox’s assignments.”

“Admiral, I’ve always respected your authority and I still respect it. I think, however, that you’re pushing Maddox and his crew too hard. From what I’ve learned, the Commonwealth, Star Watch and all our allies are in danger from the Ardazirhos. Therefore, you’re uselessly endangering my grandson and his crew on a mission that makes no sense.”

Cook frowned, and for a time he was silent.

Mary understood that he didn’t care for her frank opinion, but she was right about this. Maddox hadn’t spoken to her, but Galyan and Ludendorff had, independently of each other.

“Iron Lady,” Cook said in a stern voice. “Aliens assaulted us by raiding Star Watch archives, which is to say into the heart of Star Watch itself.”

“I know all this.”

“Really,” he said. “You must tell me who leaked this.”

“Sir—”

“You’re saying Maddox didn’t tell you?”

“No.”

“Who did?”

Mary shook her head.

Cook’s scowl grew. “How much do you know?”

Mary sighed. “I know everything. I should. Discovering information is my specialty.”

Cook glared at her.

Mary sighed again. “You believe that the so-called Mastermind breached Star Watch with bipedal wolves through a Yon Soth portal.

“I see,” Cook said. “I’d hoped to keep this quiet.”

“I haven’t told anyone.”

“Did Brigadier Stokes tell you?”

Mary looked up at the stars. “Very well. I have an agreement with Professor Ludendorff. He divined the mission through Maddox as they repaired Galyan. I think Ludendorff fears you’ll force his hand, and he doesn’t want to go that far into space. Hence, he let me know about all this.”

“Dammit,” Cook said, standing abruptly. “Ludendorff told you? That damned Methuselah Man.”

“Now, now,” Mary said. “The professor and I have an understanding. He hurt me badly in the past and is still trying to make up for that.”

Cook shook his head. “This understanding between you two must end immediately.”

Mary said nothing.

“Do you understand me, Iron Lady? I will have perfect security or—”

“This is ridiculous,” Mary said, interrupting. “You want to send Maddox six thousand light years away. That’s risky and ill advised. We don’t know what’s out there. We don’t even know the exact place to go. We just have this general area. How long do you think Victory will have to search for this place? They won’t even know what they’re searching for, not exactly. It’s a foolish mission. Silly.”

Cook crossed his arms, his face closing up.

“I understand aliens breached our facilities. But it seems to me that this distant alien—I mean the Mastermind—is seeking something that only incidentally involves us.”

“How did the Mastermind learn about our archives and what they hold?”

Mary frowned. “From the little we learned, at the Crowder System, Lisa Meyers sent a team through the portals at the Ardazirhos.”

“Ah,” Cook said, eying her. “Yes, yes. Perhaps the Mastermind captured some of the raiders. Didn’t Meyers send Merovingians through?”

“You could be right about that.” Mary shrugged. “We don’t know who Meyers sent, just that a squad attacked through the portals.”

“This is finally starting to make sense.” Cook squinted at her. “You think the assault on our archives was incidental to Star Watch?”

“I think there’s a good possibility of that. Therefore, we’re planning to send Victory to a place that may not have anything to do with Earth, may not have anything to do with the human race.”

Cook rubbed his jaw. “The Mastermind sent Ardazirhos at the Supreme Intelligence of the Library Planet. It would seem the Mastermind did that after checking our archives.”

Mary became thoughtful. “Did the Mastermind find nothing in our archives and go elsewhere? Or did something in our archives cause the Mastermind to check the Library Planet’s archives?”

Once more, the Lord High Admiral put his old, weathered hands on his knees. “I grant you there’s a possibility this is merely incidental to us. Yet, we don’t know that. Therefore, we must take preemptive action. We cannot allow aliens to willy-nilly storm our facilities, acting against us. We need intelligence. We need data. Gathering intelligence is what Victory does better than any other vessel in our fleet. That is Captain Maddox’s specialty. Who else would we send?”

“Several Patrol vessels,” Mary said.

Cook shook his head. “No one is trained like Victory’s crew. No one has Maddox’s expertise.”

“That’s true. And you’re risking losing that by sending Victory. Shouldn’t Maddox be training others how to perform such unique missions? Why send the one man who knows how to handle these things? He should have trained ten replacements by now.”

“You have a point,” Cook conceded. “And yet, it always seems there’s an emergency that only Maddox and his people can solve.”

“By using Maddox each time, you’re going to burn up my grandson. You’re going to cause his death. He can’t go on these fantastic, far-reaching missions and make it home every time.”

“He has so far,” Cook said.

Mary became indignant. “No! One of these times the odds will be too great and he’ll die out there. Then, we’ll lose the expertise of the best captain we have, and the veteran crew he’s built up over all this time.”

“I’ve already agreed that you have a point.” Cook drummed his fingers on his knees. “Perhaps before we send Maddox out there, we should gather more information about what he’s looking for.”

“First, if you agree with me, keep Maddox home and send someone else. Second, how would you gain more data about something so arcane?”

“The Supreme Intelligence seems like the best source.”

“How do we know the Supreme Intelligence’s ends are sympathetic to Earth? Perhaps he’s using my grandson. The Supreme Intelligence is an alien, a Builder product. Therefore, how can we fully trust him?”

“You’re right about that. We can’t fully trust him. But that’s the point of all this. That’s why we plan to send one of our own to go out and see what is out there, to see if it is a threat. Surely you can understand that.”

Mary looked away. She did understand. They were Star Watch personnel. Their job was to protect humanity from all threats. She’d been in charge of Intelligence for so long with the weight of all the responsibility. Then, sitting on the sidelines for so many years, distrusted because of the invasion of her mind—

Mary didn’t like this. She did not like it one bit. Meta was worried for her man. Jewel needed her father. Maddox already had missed years of parenting. Was Jewel going to have the same problem he’d had? Would Maddox die out there? Would Jewel grow up with only Meta?

Mary stared at the Lord High Admiral. “Perhaps I should go with them.”

“What?” Cook said. “No, that’s nonsense. That’s not the issue. The issue is should we send Maddox. I’ve agreed with you. Unless we learn more, it’s too risky sending him six thousand light years on a wild goose chase.” Cook snorted. “Finding a needle in a haystack would likely prove easier. We need pinpoint locations, knowing exactly what to look for. Otherwise…there is no otherwise.”

Mary stood.

The Lord High Admiral stood.

“Thank you, sir,” Mary said. I appreciate you taking the time to listen to an old woman like me.”

“I’ll inform the captain tomorrow that he can stand down.”

Mary nodded. “Thank you again, sir.”

Cook grinned. “I like your suggestion. It’s time for Maddox to start training others to do what he’s been doing, instead of him always going out.”

A wave of gratitude sweep over Mary O’Hara. This was excellent news. She shook the Lord High Admiral’s leathery hand and departed, heading back for the spaceport. She still had plenty of work to do at her laboratory in Antarctica.

-14-

The next day, Maddox was back in the Long-Range Builder Comm Device chamber on Victory, calling his Uncle Ural.

After several minutes of attempting contact, his uncle answered. “Captain Maddox, I’m surprised. What’s the nature of the call?”

Maddox explained what the Lord High Admiral had told him this morning. Star Watch would not send Victory into the deep Beyond six thousand light years to search willy-nilly through a vast region of space for a place they didn’t even precisely know. How could they find this place if they didn’t know what they were looking for?

Ural didn’t respond right away.

“Uncle, are you there,” Maddox asked, speaking into the microphone.

“I’m here. What are you suggesting? You’re not going?”

“As of this moment, no, we’re not going to go.”

“I see. So we let this Mastermind send his agents at us, attacking each of our Intelligence facilities so he can take what he wants, when he wants, without any retribution on our part?”

“Come now, Uncle. It’s not that simple. We’re dealing with an entity that as far as we know is in the center of the galaxy. He’s shown no inclination to attack us specifically. As far as I can tell, all he wanted was some information from each of us.”

“What if this is a precursor to a larger assault against us?”

“And what if it isn’t? What if this is a one-time incident?”

“I think that is an unwise attitude,” Ural said.

Maddox scoffed. “Unwise? It’s a matter of making calculations with insufficient knowledge. That means we have to make the best decision we can. As of right now, we do not have sufficient knowledge regarding these agents.”

“They’ve invaded our sanctuaries,” Ural said.

“I agree. I’m not a fan of the wolves or of the Mastermind. But I also know that they’re far beyond us in terms of technology.”

“So we lie down and do nothing?” Ural asked.

“Uncle, if you want Victory to go out there, we need more information about the target.”

“You’re mistaken,” Ural said. “It’s not I who wants you to go, but the Supreme Intelligence. You know he has good rapport with Earth and the Commonwealth. You received the Earth-Luna nexus as a gift, showing his goodwill.”

“We appreciate the nexus. It’s been quite useful, and we wish to work together with you. Even so, this is the first time we’ve heard from you or him since I left the Library Planet. Now, you finally call and want Victory to leap at your bidding and go on some far-ranging mission. No. We need more information about the mission. Or has the Supreme Intelligence been incapacitated in some manner?”

“No,” Ural said. “I’ll take this up with him, telling him what you’ve told me.”

“Thank you,” Maddox said.

“I suggest you wait in the chamber for the next several hours.”

“I can do that.”

“Golden Ural out.”

“Maddox out,” and he put up the microphone.

***

Ural didn’t call back as expected. It was several days later and Maddox had already taken up other duties on the starship, continuing the personnel review. The professor and he also tested Galyan to make sure the AI was fully functioning.

Three days later, Ural called.

The captain hurried to the Long-Range Builder Comm Device chamber, sitting down on the sofa, picking up the microphone. “That was a longer delay than I expected.”

“I know,” Ural said, sounding tired.

“Is something wrong?”

“Yes, the Supreme Intelligence… Captain, I think something essential was stolen from him, and it was a greater theft than I realized at the time.”

“What does that mean?

“That I need you more than ever to make the journey.”

“For what reason?”

“It’s possible you’ll find devices that can replace what was stolen from the Supreme Intelligence.”

“I would need details of what you’re talking about.”

There was only a short pause. “It’s a circuit, a very ancient and unique one. Not one of Builder make, either. I just learned that recently, by the way. It’s of Yon Soth manufacture.”

“The Supreme Intelligence has this?” Maddox asked, startled.

“It’s partly what gives him his greater intellect. The Builders incorporated the Yon Soth circuit ages ago. I only recently learned that also.”

“This is disconcerting.”

“I don’t see why.”

Maddox snorted. “Because it’s Yon Soth technology.”

“I know, I know. The Old Ones are untrustworthy and have nothing but hostile intent toward humanity. Nevertheless, I believe the Builders modified said circuit and used it to produce the Supreme Intelligence. I also believe it was the means by which he kept Balron from returning to his dimension.”

“Ah, yes,” Maddox said. “That does make sense. I take it you want to send us to a Yon Soth planet?”

“Frankly, I don’t know what kind of planet. I didn’t receive such details. I’ve learned that there are three possible star systems where the planet could reside. I don’t know the star systems’ exact locations, but I can give you general coordinates.”

“Three star systems, huh? Okay, let’s have the data.” Maddox picked up a tablet.

Ural told him of three particular star systems. He didn’t give their precise locations, but general coordinates.

“I should add that this is old data, Captain. It comes from ancient Builder starships and probes. If I were to guess, I’d say the data is between ten thousand to fifteen thousand years old.”

“You’re kidding me. That long ago?”

“That long ago,” Ural said. “At the one star system, let us call it Possibility Three, there is a chance the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan has reached it.”

“How did you learn that?”

Ural didn’t answer directly. “I call it a reverse nexus system, one Leviathan could probably use.”

“I don’t understand any of that, and how did you learn about this?”

Ural sighed. “I don’t fully understand myself. The Supreme Intelligence has garbled information about certain of the star systems. That’s how I learned, of course, through him. I’ve begun to suspect the Ardazirhos implanted a confusion device in him as they extracted the data. I believe they’re trying to cover their tracks. But—and this is why it took me several days—I’ve been busy with repair bots. I’ve managed to bypass some of the confusion device’s effects to obtain this data.”

“That all sounds odd and suspicious,” Maddox said.

“I understand. However, I’m more convinced than ever that Victory must check this out. There’s something strange going on. I’d say the Mastermind is highly intent on acquiring whatever he’s searching for.”

“Can you be more specific?”

“A little. I’ve begun to suspect the Mastermind is an AI computer system, but not quite in the way you and I think of it.”

“Like the Supreme Intelligence?”

“Yes,” Ural said, “but only more so.”

“What does that tell you?”

“I’ve begun to suspect there is some connection between the Supreme Intelligence, the Mastermind and the guiding intelligence of the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan.”

Maddox’s eyes widened. “How did you conclude that?”

“I have evidence here that gives it a possibility. I would not call it conclusive evidence. However, on one of these planets is ancient technology that the Mastermind seeks in order to augment himself. It could also augment the Supreme Intelligence and possibly augment the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan.”

“What can you tell me about them?”

“Leviathan as such is either cybernetic or computer-based, but I’m more inclined to think cybernetic.”

“You mean a melding of human and machine parts?”

“Not necessarily human, Captain, but biological and machine parts. Yes, that’s what I’m thinking.”

“And the Supreme Intelligence is a combination of that?”

“Not quite.”

“What does that mean?”

“Synthetic biological parts such as many Builders have used,” Ural said.

“If it’s synthetic biological, are you saying you’ve created biological life or that the Supreme Intelligence has?”

“No,” Ural said, “synthetic life.”

“You’re not making sense.”

“Captain, nephew, I ask that you trust me in this. There are some processes that I’m only beginning to comprehend. I’ve been on the Library Planet since you left, and I’ve learned much. I’ve also deepened my understanding concerning Builders, their clones and cyborg possibilities. I think that’s why Leviathan has such an affinity for Builder items.”

Maddox absorbed the data. “I have a question. How did you learn about the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan?”

“I think you know.”

“You’re stealing secrets from Star Watch?” Maddox asked.

“Not me specifically, no.”

The implication was that the Supreme Intelligence had been stealing these secrets.

Maddox stared at the tablet, at the three star systems, the three possibilities and their general location. The mission would no longer be like searching for a needle in a haystack. Still, the mission would take a ship far out into the Beyond. The targeted area was one hundred light years long and deep. That was less of an area than before, but still a huge amount of territory to cover.

“Thank you, Uncle. I appreciate all this. I’ll pass it along. It may be enough to launch a reconnaissance mission.”

“I hope so, Captain. I believe going out there is vitally important to the Supreme Intelligence, the Builders’ future—if there is one—and the Commonwealth of Planets. I think the Mastermind…I don’t know his exact objective or what goes on in the center of the galaxy, but in this, he has shown an interest in the Orion Arm. He has shown an interest in this place, possibly enough to send his agents. If you’ve noticed, the targeted area is between the Orion and Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arms.”

“As I’ve said, Uncle, I’ll relay your information. I thank you.” And with that, Maddox abruptly ended the communication.

-15-

Maddox took a break from readying the starship, taking a shuttle down to Carson City spaceport.

Soon, he was home on his ranch. He had dinner with Meta and Jewel. Afterward, he went with his six-year-old daughter to the stable. There, he squatted as they looked at the frogs jumping around inside her wooden box.

Jewel pinched a grasshopper in her little fingers, one she’d caught earlier today, and dropped it under the wire. They both watched as first one frog and then another noticed the grasshopper. The biggest frog inched closer and suddenly opened his mouth as his tongue flicked out. A second later, only the leg of the grasshopper showed, as if the frog smoked a cigar.

Jewel laughed with delight and giggled. Maddox nodded approvingly. Next, Jewel opened her notebook and made a mark. The frog Riker had eaten the grasshopper.

Jewel showed Maddox that Riker had already eaten three grasshoppers today.

Maddox placed a hand on his daughter’s back, smiled and kissed her on the cheek.

Impulsively Jewel hugged his neck and said, “I love you, Daddy. I’m so glad you’re home.”

He stood, picking her up and hugging her. “I love you, baby.” He set her down, took a hand and they walked back to the house into the kitchen.

Meta was cleaning up the dishes. His wife was a beautiful, curvy, blonde-haired woman, stronger than a normal man, as she’d been born on a 2G planet and was genetically superior because of her DNA.

Maddox let go of Jewel’s hand, coming up behind Meta. He put his hands on her hips. She was such a beautiful woman, such a good wife. “I love you,” he said.

Meta glanced back at him, but she wasn’t smiling. In fact, her face was quite serious.

Maddox knew what this was about

Then, Meta forced a smile and nodded.

“Come on, Daddy. Let’s go outside and play with the dogs.”

“Yes,” Maddox said.

He went outside where two Rottweilers were in the yard. One of them named Milo and the other named Emmy. Maddox tossed a ball while Jewel tossed a cloth Frisbee.

The dogs chased the ball and Frisbee, bringing them back. Jewel had a great time and so did Maddox. He would miss his little darling. He was so glad that he’d gotten to see her grow and be with Meta at home, safe.

Soon enough it was bedtime. Maddox went upstairs, sat on Jewel’s bed and read her a Bible story, this one about David and Goliath. Afterward, Maddox said his prayers and listened to Jewel say:

“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray thee Lord my soul to take. God bless mommy and daddy. In Jesus’s name, amen.”

“Amen,” Maddox said. He kissed his daughter, fluffed the blanket and put it up to her chin, walking to the door.

Just as he put his hand on the light switch, Jewel said sleepily, “Are you going to go away on a voyage again, Daddy?”

He looked at her. A pang touched his heart. “Most likely, Sweetness.”

“I don’t want you to go.”

He smiled, “I know, but Daddy has a job to do and it’s his job to do this.”

Jewel lay there in bed, staring at him. “Okay, Daddy. I’ll pray for you every day you’re gone.”

“Excellent. I appreciate that.”

He turned off the light, closed the door softly and walked down the stairs to a waiting Meta. She sat on a chair facing a shutdown TV. The two dogs lay on the carpet at her feet.

“You’re really thinking about going, aren’t you?” Meta asked.

Maddox looked away. He didn’t want this argument. It had been ongoing ever since Jewel had been born. He understood that Meta had changed. She was a mother now and viewed things much differently than she had before. Meta was his wife and at times an agent out in the stars accompanying him. Yet how could he take his dear little daughter out to the stars? Part of him wanted to do that so they’d be with him. But he’d never take Jewel out on a dangerous mission where he might not return.

“Are you really going that far away?” Meta asked. “You said six thousand light years. That’s farther than a nexus can send you.”

Maddox nodded.

Meta stared at him, no smiles on her face. “This isn’t fair. It isn’t fair to me, but it isn’t fair to Jewel. What if you don’t come back?”

“I always have,” he said in a jovial tone.

“Maddox, what if you don’t come back?”

“I will. I’ll come back.”

“You don’t know that.”

“No, I don’t know that, but Meta, we’ve been over this. This is what I do. I’m an explorer. I’m the man of action who goes and does. I have to protect you, Jewel and the rest of the Commonwealth. This is my specialty.”

“It doesn’t always have to be you. Train somebody else. Have them go. Stay back for once.”

“And if Victory doesn’t return?”

Meta looked away. When she looked back, there were tears in her eyes. “That would be awful, but you’d be safe and Jewel would have her father. You don’t want her to have no father?”

“Enough,” Maddox said, as he stepped to Meta. He took her hands and raised her from the chair. She resisted, but he pulled her up and then hugged her. He could feel her rigid body. “Meta, Meta,” he whispered. “I love you. I love Jewel. Don’t you understand that I could never operate as a desk jockey? This is what I do. I, I would go crazy just staying here knowing my people were out there without me.”

Meta wilted, and some of the stiffness left her body as she pressed against him. She hugged him fiercely, a bone-crushing grip.

Maddox tensed his muscles so she wouldn’t break any of his bones. It was a ferocious grip and both dogs stood and whined, Emmy wagging her tail.

Then Meta relaxed her grip and Maddox took her face in his hands.

“Oh Meta, I love you so much.” He kissed her. “I… It’s hard going and this is a dangerous mission, but I’m going to come back, I promise you.”

“Maddox, how can you promise that?”

“Oh, my darling. I love you so much and I want to keep you safe. If I don’t go…”

“Are you the indispensable man? Are you now Professor Ludendorff that you’re going to brag?”

“No,” Maddox said, “not brag. I abhor bragging. I wish you would understand.”

“I do, partly,” Meta said, “but the other part of me—I don’t know what I’d do if you don’t return, Maddox. It’s too much. You should take us with you.”

Pain crossed his features. “Oh darling, I don’t mean to cause you heartache, but I so don’t want you to go.”

“I understand,” she whispered

He didn’t want to give her pain, but in his heart, Maddox wanted to go. He did love Meta dearly and he loved his daughter. But he also thrilled at what he did. Was it for the sheer sense of adventure? Maybe. Was that so bad? He was a man. A man had to protect his family. A man went out and did what he was good at. A man was made to work, and this was his work. Was that specifically inclusive to a man? He rather thought so. In any case, it was the kind of man he was.

He hugged Meta again and they stood in the living room holding each other, the two dogs standing there watching.

As Maddox smelled Meta’s hair and the fragrance of her, he whispered, “Dear God, please protect my family. Please protect Meta and Jewel. Keep them safe, and help me to come back to them.”

Meta squeezed him.

“Amen,” he said.

“Amen,” Meta said. “Please God, bring my husband back home.”

After hugging each other for a few more minutes, they released. Maddox took his wife’s hand and led her to the bedroom, closing the door so the dogs couldn’t follow, allowing him to spend time with his precious wife.

-16-

Two days later, the crew of Victory assembled, including Commander Valerie Noonan. She brought a small three-man Patrol vessel, parking it in one of the hangar bays. Galyan was ready. Sergeant Riker joined them and the rest took their places.

At the appointed hour with Maddox on the bridge, Ludendorff at his science facility, the members of the Earth-Luna nexus created a hyper-spatial tube. Then Victory made the jump to the Omicron 9 System. From there it took a few hours as they traveled toward the Omicron 9 nexus. At last, as the people there made the calculations and as Ludendorff spoke to the key N-tech, one of the longest hyper-spatial tubes ever appeared. The Builder pyramid used every ounce of its special energy.

“Here we go,” Maddox said.

The starship slid into the swirling entrance. In a moment, it crossed 5,251 light years, coming out on the other side far from the Commonwealth, far beyond any human space.

It took a few moments for the crew to shake off jump lag. Finally, Maddox stood, examining his people. They seemed none the worse for the fantastic jump.

“Galyan, have you detected anything unusual?”

“Nothing yet, Captain.”

The hyper-spatial-tube exit disappeared. Given the distance of Omicron 9 from Earth, they’d traveled 5,541 light years. Years ago, they’d gone farther when they jumped a freak 10,000 light years to reach the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm, but this was a grand jump indeed. It had strained the limit of the Omicron 9 nexus.

Lieutenant Maker was at the helm piloting. Andros soon informed Maddox where the starship was in stellar terms. They could now start searching for the first of the three possibilities for the target planet.

Maddox gave the orders. Keith Maker executed them.

Soon, as Maddox studied the main screen, he sensed…acute loneliness in himself. That was odd. He looked at the others. Did they feel that or was his intuitive sense allowing him to perceive what he’d felt on other long-distance missions but never able to articulate it to himself? He should have felt this behind the barrier in the Crowder System. Was there something else at work here?

Maddox touched his chin. The feeling of loneliness no doubt came from the extreme distance and the realization they were out of communication range even with the Builder Comm device. They had no way of calling for help. They were, as they had been many times before, truly on their own, with no easy access home. It would be weeks before the Omicron 9 nexus projected another hyper-spatial tube out here. The nexus would do that every few weeks afterward. It was the starship’s sole lifeline home.

Shaking off the feeling, Maddox gave the order for the first of many star-drive jumps. This one would be a 10 light years jump in the direction of a targeted G-class star.

“The star is one hundred and ten light years from us,” Andros declared from his science station.

“Thank you, Chief Technician,” Maddox said. “Galyan, start searching for hidden anomalies or strange radiation. We’re far from home. Thus, I want to find whatever is here before whatever is here finds us.”

“I understand, Captain,” Galyan said.

Maddox nodded.

They’d done it, all right. They’d left Omicron 9 to jump in the direction of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. He dearly hoped none of this had anything to do with the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan.

Star Watch had fought one bitter war against another interstellar power: the Swarm Imperium. The Swarm had originated in the Sagittarius Spiral Arm. Hopefully, Star Watch wouldn’t have to fight another such grand campaign against another star-spanning empire.

Maddox shook his head. Thinking like this was probably jumping the gun. They sought what the Mastermind sought. Could they succeed before the Mastermind or his agents did?

We’re going to find out.

***

Three days later and after six star-drive jumps, Galyan pointed out an odd and rather small nebula several light years away.

“Do you detect any unusual radiation from it?” Maddox asked.

It was a beautiful nebula as such things went, beautiful on the main screen, anyway.

“The composition is made of energized nuclei,” Galyan said. “I have never seen its like. I do not know what it indicates.”

Maddox sat in his captain’s chair, scratching his cheek. Should they investigate the nebula? How many anomalies would there be out here? How much time should they use checking each? The longer they stayed out here and the longer they failed to find the targeted planet…

“I want a deeper analysis of the nebula, Galyan.”

“Yes sir.” The holoimage’s eyelids fluttered as he engaged more of the ancient starship’s sensors. “Sir,” he said after a time, “I believe what I am seeing was caused by some form of detonation. Not an antimatter blast or a nuclear blast, but something more powerful.”

“And that is what has caused the nebula?”

“It is not a nebula but a mass of energized nuclei. I cannot tell you what that means, but I do not think we should go any closer to it. I am now detecting heavy doses of radiation. If we go closer, we will likely endanger the crew.”

“Do you think this radiation can penetrate the shields?”

“I do, sir. It is of an odd nature as I said earlier.”

At high magnification, Maddox studied the nebula, the mass of energized nuclei. Was that debris from a space battle? If so, how long ago had it been waged?

“Galyan, can you tell when the supposed explosion occurred?”

“Negative.”

Maddox clicked an armrest control. “Professor, take a look at this, would you?”

Ludendorff was in his science station, presumably now looking at what Maddox was looking at.

Over the armrest comm, Ludendorff said, “I suggest we leave that well alone. It could endanger he ship if we go any closer.”

“What caused it?” Maddox asked.

“Unknown,” Ludendorff said.

“You don’t even have a glimmer of idea?”

“Yes, of course I have a glimmer of an idea,” Ludendorff said. “It was an explosion greater than an antimatter blast.”

“That’s what Galyan said. What kind of blast?”

Ludendorff was silent for a time. “I’ll have to analyze this further. I’ll have more information later. My suggestion is we stay as far away from this as possible until we know more.”

“Thank you, Professor.” Maddox clicked off the armrest channel.

They made another three star-drive jumps. After each jump, they rested. Maddox wanted the crew to recover fully from the lag effects. He also gave the sensor teams time to take complete readings and then to analyze the findings. Thus, the starship crawled, using every sensor to detect whatever there was to detect.

After the third jump, Galyan said, “I am detecting a spaceship.”

“Indeed,” Maddox said. “Where exactly and what’s its condition?”

“I suspect it is a derelict.”

“I still want its distance and location.”

“It is six hundred AU from us.”

“Where?” Maddox practically shouted.

Galyan put a schematic on the main screen.

Maddox nodded. “Let’s start that way so we can take a closer look.”

“Yes, sir,” Keith said from helm.

Victory headed that way. An hour later, they made a star-drive jump the rest of the way, appearing a mere one AU from the derelict. An AU was the distance from the Sun to the Earth, a distance the starship could traverse directly rather rapidly.

“I’m putting up what I’m detecting on the main screen,” Andros said.

A great cross-section of a ship appeared there.

“It’s five kilometers long,” Andros said.

The derelict looked like a giant X. It drifted, and even from this distance, Andros detected portions blown off and drifting nearby. The nearest star system was two light years from the wreck.

“How old is it?” Maddox asked.

“I can now give you an estimate,” Galyan said. “It is eight to nine thousand years old.”

Maddox raised his eyebrows. “It has been drifting all this time?”

“I give that the highest probability,” Galyan said.

“Any idea as to what type of alien ran the starship?

“None,” Galyan said.

Maddox nodded again. “Let’s go in for a closer look.”

An hour passed and then a second as Victory decelerated.

“Galyan,” Maddox said, “I want you to go over there. See what you can find. Record everything.”

“Yes sir.”

Galyan disappeared from the bridge and reappeared on the derelict. The bridge crew saw through his optic sensors, seeing what he saw on the main screen. For ten minutes, they witnessed bare corridors.

Galyan finally reappeared on Victory’s bridge.

“The molecules there appear unstable, as if the entire ship could disintegrate into nothing,” Galyan said.

“Okay,” Maddox said. “Still no idea what type of aliens made the ship?”

“Negative, sir.”

“Professor?”

Ludendorff was on the bridge, standing near the captain’s chair, looking at the main screen. He shook his head. “No idea.”

Maddox became thoughtful. “We’ve spent enough time here. This is an old, an ancient derelict. This also makes the second anomaly so far. We’ll continue to the first star system from my Uncle’s list.”

“Are you detecting anything unusual, Galyan?” the professor asked the holoimage.

“Do you mean regarding the nearby star system?”

“Sure,” Ludendorff said.

“It is still too far to notice anything unusual.”

“All right,” Maddox said. “Let’s get ready to move.  A few more jumps and we’ll be at the star system. I want everyone to get plenty of sleep, plenty of exercise and to be ready for what’s coming.”

Maddox stood, deciding he needed to hit the gym before he took a well-deserved rest. He wanted to be in full command of his faculties when they reached the first star system.

It was lonely out here, but it was interesting. In the end, he was glad he’d taken the assignment.

-17-

Far away in the other direction that Victory had taken, back at the Library Planet, Golden Ural descended into the main Supreme Intelligence computer system. Ural traveled with three security robots in tow.

Golden Ural was a tall, lean man with richly colored golden skin. He was a genetically modified New Man. He had quicker reflexes and a faster-acting brain than a normal man of the Commonwealth. There was a slight resemblance to Captain Maddox, although Ural had sharper, more angular features and a more piercing gaze.

He had security devices secured to a thick belt, including an emitter. There had been some strange readings down here and an energy drain in this part of the Supreme Intelligence system.

There were certain areas that the Supreme Intelligence had not allowed Ural to inspect, but this was not one of them. He headed to a junction, a filing and information retrieval center. Neither the Supreme Intelligence with his diagnostic tools nor Ural with independent probes had been able to discover the nature of the energy drain or the anomalies.

Thus, as the high-speed elevator stopped and the hatch opened, the three security bots with stubby blaster nozzles on their mechanical arms went out first. They scuttled on multi-jointed legs like a spider. Their lights and sensors snapped on, small sensor rays beaming here and there in the dimly lit corridors

“Left,” Ural said as he checked a hand monitor.

They headed down the corridor, turning left, left and then entering a large oval area. It had many terminals and large energy banks: seething matter held by heavy magnetic shields. In human parlance, they were computer banks, but of a unique sort.

Ural scanned the area with the hand monitor and listened carefully. Did a sixth sense cause his nape hairs to rise? He unhooked the emitter from the belt and cautiously advanced toward a dimmer area.

At that moment, the chamber’s terminals and energy banks shut down. The shields vanished and the seething energy dissipated, flowing upward. That revealed three suited creatures lying on the floor. Each wore a protective suit that had protrusions where a wolf-like muzzle might be on a human.

The bots zeroed in on them.

One of the prone intruders pressed a stud on his suit. A sizzling sound emanated throughout the room.

The bots froze. One exploded in a shower of sparks.

Ural’s quickened reflexes caused him to drop to the floor. A coherent beam of intense light flashed from his emitter, zeroing in on an alien suit chest-plate. The intruder was climbing to his feet. The ray burned a hole through the plate. The intruder dropped back onto the floor, eliciting a muffled yowl.

The other two jumped up and raced left, heading for a narrow passage.

From the floor, Ural sighted the emitter and fired. There seemed to be a distortion. His beam flashed, hit one of them, but did nothing.

The two fled into the darkness out of sight.

With a grunt, Ural scrambled to his feet and gave chase. Like Captain Maddox when he ran, Ural moved as fast, in this case, faster than a greyhound. He raced down the corridor, after getting a sensor lock on the two with his hand monitor.

Why had the emitter failed the second time? He skidded as he reached a corner, unhooked a mini-capsule and tossed it around the corner. A flash of light showed that the stun grenade had gone off. Ural peeked around and saw a suited alien lying apparently stunned on the floor. Not taking any chances, Ural targeted and beamed. A hole appeared in the creature’s helmet.

There came an exclamation of rage farther down the corridor. “You killed him,” the alien said in a language Ural understood.

Ural targeted and fired at the second creature. According to the hand monitor—he’d missed. The being had relocated elsewhere.

Now began a cat and mouse game as Ural stalked the last suited intruder through the maze of the Supreme Intelligence’s computer annex. Twice the alien shot at Ural and only his energy shield saved the New Man, a personal device Professor Ludendorff had once employed many years ago. Ural called for backup and found that his communications were jammed.

As he studied the route the other had taken, “I’ve been a fool,” Ural said to himself.

He turned and sprinted for a different location. Entering an elevator and going up at speed, he soon raced to the area where he’d sealed off any portal entrances with a special dampener device. As Ural reached there, he saw the alien switch off the dampening device and race toward a blank wall.

“Stop,” Ural shouted. He targeted the alien with his emitter.

The alien did not stop but ran faster than a man, but slower than Ural. Before the suited creature, a dark portal appeared into what seemed to be nothing.

Ural tracked, aimed and fired a beam.

The creature must have possessed a shield, as the ray stopped inches from the suit. Then the alien dove through the portal, disappearing. It closed behind him.

The emitter ray no longer struck the suited alien, but the blank wall behind where the portal had been. Ural ceased firing, raced to the spot and flipped on the dampening switch.

That should keep the portal from reopening.

Afterward, Ural scowled. What did all this mean? Three Ardazirhos had been hiding here. At least, he thought they’d been wolf aliens.

Ural backtracked and found the second alien he’d slain. He removed the helmet to stare at the dead creature. It was indeed an Ardazirho. He wasn’t fully wolf-like as an Earth creature would be, but he resembled one enough that the term made sense.

Ural stripped off the suit. As he did, a command bot appeared. It was a round spherical device floating in the air.

“Ural.”

Surprised, Ural rolled over the floor, reaching for his emitter and aiming—

“It is I, the Supreme Intelligence,” the command bot said.

“Ah, Sire, I did not realize.” Ural lowered the emitter.

“I have been analyzing the area where the Ardazirhos have been hiding this past week.”

Ural nodded. Often the Supreme Intelligence was a step ahead of him in analysis and quick thinking. That made sense, as the computer being used a large part of the planet to store his processors. Unique Builder processors gave the Supreme Intelligence unique abilities and thinking capacity.

“Sire,” Ural said. “I believe the Ardazirho that escaped is aware that we have been in communication with Star Watch via a Long-Range Builder Comm.”

“Of course,” the Supreme Intelligence said from the bot.

Ural blinked several times. “The Mastermind will know we’ve communicated with Commander Maddox and sent him into the area of interest.”

“That seems probable,” the Supreme Intelligence said.

“I must alert Star Watch and let them know this.”

“By all means do so.”

Ural nodded and left for the Long-Range Builder Comm Device. Soon, Ural spoke to the Lord High Admiral.

“Golden Ural,” Admiral Cook said, “This is a pleasure.”

“You may not think so, sir.” Ural described what had taken place and the ramifications of it. “You must immediately contact Captain Maddox and let him know that the Mastermind has a ninety-nine percent probability of being aware that Maddox and company are heading for the same area he, the Mastermind, showed an interest in.”

“That’s a tortured way of saying it,” Cook replied, “but yes, I understand. Unfortunately…”

“Ah…” Ural said. “Captain Maddox is already out of range, is he not?”

“That’s privileged information,” Cook said.

“I understand. You have your security procedures. Well, I’ve warned you. If there is some way to contact my nephew, I ask that you make every effort.”

“Yes, Cook said, “we will.” He cut the connection.

Ural went back to his duties.

***

Far away on Earth, Admiral Cook thought deeply on what he’d just learned. In order to forestall any complaint from the Iron Lady, and out of sheer precaution, he would send several Patrol ships to Omicron 9. From there, they would go deep into the Beyond, chasing after Victory. Perhaps they could communicate with Maddox and tell him the score.

This was a unique opportunity. It was also a dangerous situation, and they knew little about the Mastermind.

“Yes,” Cook said to himself. He stood. He’d start the ball rolling and send three Patrol vessels into the terrible far Beyond to follow Victory, and if they could, to give Captain Maddox fair warning.

-18-

Much farther from Victory than the Library Planet was the main center mass of the Milky Way Galaxy. Amongst those tens of thousands of star systems was a unique system that housed or incorporated whatever was the essence of the Mastermind.

It was quite probable that the surviving Ardazirho who escaped the Library Planet used a portal to traverse the incredible distance. That showed yet again the wondrous efficiency and bizarre space mechanics of Yon Soth technology.

In any case, on a planet in that supposed system, Iris, a Spacer adept who was now enraptured with the Mastermind, received emergency training. This training was in new mind techniques and better information-gathering methods.

During training, Iris heard a summons like a gong in the air. She turned from her instructors—alien creatures, two of them energy beings—and walked away serenely. She wore the metallic skin-suit, moving to an orifice that appeared in a waterfall.

Iris moved seductively and with grace. Surprisingly, her beauty, sultriness and intelligence had increased. The last showed in the sharpness of her gaze.

She found herself transported into a place deep underground in an ancient vault. She didn’t know it, but the chamber was a special receiving center 40,000 years old. Iris saw many swirling particles in the air even as she heard a chime.

Using one of the newfound powers the Mastermind had granted her, Iris activated her Spacer adept abilities. They were powered by a unique and tiny source inside her body. That source activated antigravity pads in the soles of her feet. She levitated upward as if a master of telekinesis, though it was not telekinesis. It was controlled by her mind, but was actually technology.

Iris levitated until she reached a swirling orb of color a little larger than her head. With a serene smile, knowing this would bring her enraptured joy, she moved her head into the swirling colors. She did this while maintaining her levitation. She closed her eyes and moaned, as she’d never done for Professor Ludendorff.

This was ecstasy. There was a feeling in her bosom that tingled outward to every particle of her being. It was more than pleasant. It was exquisite and different from sexual orgasm. It was like a drug. She’d come to love and desire and need these times. If Professor Ludendorff had bragged that no one would ever be able to match his sexual prowess—if Iris could have, she would have chuckled. That was sheer fantasy on the Methuselah Man’s part. He wasn’t a pawing amateur, to be sure—but this…this was indescribable.

“Iris,” a voice said inside her head.

“Mastermind,” she said with adoration.

“You’re progressing quickly in your studies and are soon ready to board the starship.”

“I want to stay here with you.”

“No, Iris. You’re one of my many servants. You’ve become a dedicated servant indeed. You’ll perform a task for me. A task that if you excel in it… Do you enjoy our times together?”

“I do. I do. It’s beyond description. I, I never want to leave this state.”

“In order to receive it again you must succeed in your task. And when the components that I seek are here…”

“Mastermind?”

“Do you desire to know exactly what it is that you seek?”

“How else can I find it for you?”

“That’s a clever question, Iris. I’ve inserted subconscious commands into you. When you see the…the thing, you’ll know. The instructions will blossom within you and you’ll know exactly what to do.”

“I’m delighted to hear that, Mastermind.”

“I’ve calculated, studied and correlated thousands, tens of thousands, millions of different factors. What we’re going to achieve—the prize is greater than what my agents discovered in the Crowder System. I had no idea that such a thing still existed. If I can integrate it with myself…the expansion of intellect, of my ability to prognosticate and understand and correlate and predict events that now I may only guess at—I’ll be able to extend my realm here and who knows, even farther afield. Iris. Do you wish to gain in my esteem?

“Most assuredly.”

“Good. I’ll now personally inform you that a nemesis by the name of Captain Maddox may be threatening your quest.”

Iris had to strive to remember who Captain Maddox was.

“You and Clarice saw him once in Professor Ludendorff’s laboratory.”

“Oh, that one,” Iris said. “He’s arrogant, Mastermind.”

“There’s arrogance in him, but also unusually high competence.”

“He thwarted your will before?”

“You do not need to know that.”

“Mastermind, how could anyone thwart your genius?”

“The answer is simple: because my servants failed me in the Crowder System.”

Iris shuddered. She didn’t like his tone of voice, nor did she like a lessening of the pleasure that swirled and emanated through her.

“Please, please,” she said.

“Yes,” he purred, increasing the magnification of the pleasure so Iris was speechless as she floated in the air.

She floated on the soles of her antigravity units, rigid, enjoying the pleasure that coursed back and forth through her.

If it would have continued even several seconds longer—the Mastermind cut it short. He knew exactly what he was doing. He’d calibrated and calculated exactly. That was why he was the Mastermind. He could predict better than anyone he’d ever met or heard of what would happen. With just a few pieces information he could extrapolate the outcome of any situation.

“Iris, I’m sending you to a unique planet. From what I’ve been able to ascertain, the portals cannot lead directly there. The place is, as I have already pronounced, unique and strange and filled with powerful dampening devices, perhaps of Yon Soth make. I’ve not yet determined that. It will be difficult for any ship to enter the star system. But on that planet is an item that I’ve sought, for fifteen thousand of your years, many human lifetimes. Even the Methuselah Men pale compared to how long I’ve searched for this. Finally, the pieces have come together. Who would have thought such dull-witted creatures of Builder manufacture and these others would have such data. They don’t realize what they have—never mind. That doesn’t matter. I’m sending you on the mission as my personal representative.”

“Oh, Mastermind. You do me great honor. I do not deserve this.”

“That is true, Iris. You do not deserve it in the least, but I’ve seen your possibilities and your courage. The Builder devices in you that you use as an adept—I find it fascinating and interesting and I think… Well, that isn’t germane. You’ll board a special starship of Ardazirhos and they, as my most dedicated servants, surely will not fail me. But you’re there as backup. You’re there as my representative. You’re there as my conscience, Iris, as my good sense, as my iron will.”

“Oh, Mastermind. I will not fail you. Already, I long to return to you. I want this device added to you that will increase your magnificence.”

“That’s an interesting emotion…” the Mastermind said.

For a moment, Iris sensed deep scrutiny on his part directed at her.

Had she erred in some way? The pleasure yet coursed through her, although not at the high level of before. She understood that he was teaching her, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to be linked with him, united with him. Oh, to listen to him speak of the things he would do and to feel his presence… Was there anyone like the Mastermind?

The center of the galaxy was wondrous and beautiful. Iris didn’t realize that she loved the stars in the sky, the perfusion of them. To go anywhere else—it struck her.

“I’m leaving the center of the galaxy, Mastermind?”

“It is good to question your mission. I’ll now insert the parameters of it into you and you will learn much. Remember, Iris, to fulfill your mission is to be united with me again, to know me and love me. Do you love me, Iris?”

“I do, I do. I love you more than anything I’ve ever known. I love you more than life itself.”

“We shall see whether your words have real meaning,” the Mastermind said. “Now, comport yourself. The download is beginning.”

At that moment, Iris went as rigid as before, but this time moans of pleasure didn’t escape her. Rather, grunts of pain and intensity. She scowled fiercely, her beautiful brow furrowed, as information was force-fed into her. She saw a blizzard of images and ideas and thoughts as the data downloaded into her as if she were some machine.

The thought frightened her. She didn’t ever want to be a machine. She was human. She loved, lived and served the Mastermind.

The one called Captain Maddox—it appeared he might attempt to thwart her. She would have laughed in glee at the idea. Maybe Maddox could trick Clarice or Professor Ludendorff or even Methuselah Woman Lisa Meyers, but not her. Not now that she knew so much.

Would Maddox dare to oppose her? He was a man. If he had the balls to show up to face her and her Master’s servants—

Iris understood suddenly why the Mastermind used the wolves, the Ardazirhos. It was very clever of him.

Abruptly, the swirling around her head dulled and the connection ceased.

Iris knew sorrow as tears began to leak from her eyes. She faltered and began to sink as the masterful control of levitation weakened. She steeled herself. If she would do as the Mastermind demanded, if she would succeed in this great quest, she’d be united with him once more. Oh, oh, she would go to any length for that to happen. She was the Mastermind’s servant body and soul. Yes, she loved him. Iris loved the Mastermind indeed.

-19-

It had been a week since Galyan had projected onto the alien battleship and recorded its strange design and weakened state.

It had been a week as Victory maneuvered almost six thousand light years from Earth. The stellar cartographer had cataloged star systems, asteroids, nebulae, planets and space debris, anything unusual.

The most unusual features had been catalogued in the first few days of their mission out here. Now their jobs seemed to have settled down. The crew went about their duties, often looking through portholes, vision plates or at the main screen. They all sensed the great distance between themselves and home. They were Patrol trained, however, supposedly able to handle the stresses of loneliness and distance, and for the most part, they did.

During the week, Galyan had been studying and adding to his profile on Maddox, Valerie, Ludendorff, Riker and others. He wanted to understand humans even better than before.

The alien holoimage drifted before the main screen on the bridge, having “nighttime” duty. There was one other person on the bridge with him, an ensign monitoring sensors.

Galyan used his own abilities to sense and analyze. On his own authority, he sent beams and probes to various locations. He listened to the sounds of space, the celestial noise. It was not noise in the sense of sound carried by airwaves, but space’s unique radio signatures, some coming from spinning stars.

Galyan drifted, listened and thought. He didn’t study the personality profiles with the same intensity as he had before. He realized why. His mind kept returning to the living Adoks he’d helped discover and bring home. Here was the thing. If he could discover them, he could surely get them to accept him into the community of Adoks, even to like or love him eventually. Sure, he was a deified personality, but he had feelings. His actions throughout the years showed that. They weren’t just simulated feelings, either. Others liked him as a friend. They confided in and trusted him.

Galyan thought of these things as he stood watch on the bridge, allowing the others to rest as he ran…

It is my ship, really. It was mine for six thousand years before the captain tore it from my command.

Still, he’d agreed to it, and the humans had renovated the ship. He was also a definite part of it. They’d completed many adventures together. Without their unified effort, they would never have found the living Adoks. His people would have suffocated in their hiding place as the evil deified Adok AIs would have found and slain them.

Saving the Adoks may have been Galyan’s greatest achievement.

Galyan considered that. What more could he do? He’d achieved all he’d set out to do. Wasn’t it strange that now he wanted to do more?

I belong to my people, my race. These on Victory are my friends, but I want to be part of mine, of who I was born to be.

Galyan thought about that.

His Driving Force personality had been born, and then created by the designers when he’d been programmed as a deified AI.

Galyan sighed. He didn’t want to go into that. He didn’t want theological or philosophical arguments with himself.

Instead, he hunkered down and did some long-range scanning. What was this? There was an area out there, a darkened area.

Galyan’s eyelids fluttered as he took over many of Victory’s sensors, training them on the area. This was interesting.  He noticed a decided lack of data, a null hole out there, as it were. It wasn’t like the null space where they’d found a Destroyer of the Nameless Ones. This was a null in the sense of a lack of data from a particular region.

As Galyan correlated that—

The area was the size of a regular star system, not some giant star, but perhaps a white dwarf.

What would cause a particular area not to show up on any of the sensors? Did that imply gigantic dampening fields? It would have to be a truly unique dampening field so that not even dampening rays would show up.

Could Yon Soth technology do that?

He trained the sensors, ran tests, and became so engrossed upon the effort that he didn’t realize others had entered the bridge

“Galyan,” Maddox said. “You’re relieved of bridge duty.”

At that point, Galyan snapped out of his intense study and correlation of these factors.

“What’s wrong, Galyan? You seem dazed.”

“Do I?” Galyan asked. How could Captain Maddox tell such a thing upon a holoimage? Galyan studied the captain’s personality profile. “I see. You noticed something different about me. How did you do that, sir?”

“If I didn’t know better,” Maddox said, “you almost appear touchy.”

Galyan blinked as he ran his own personality profile. “Oh. Yes sir. I believe I am touchy. I have definitely been preoccupied. Was it your intuitive sense, sir, which detected this about me?”

Maddox shrugged, glancing at the rest of the crew as they took their places.

“Why do you not care to say, sir?” Galyan asked.

“Galyan, one thing you surely know about me by now. I don’t care to have my orders or methods questioned, especially for trivial reasons. Is that clear?”

“Yes, it is perfectly clear. Sir, I believe I have found a place of interest.”

“Oh really. Let’s have it.”

Galyan began to explain about the “null” region out there. It was approximately 15.3 light years from Victory’s present position, in the general area of a star system.

“What do you think it implies?” Maddox asked.

“Some sort of dampening energy.”

“A vast source of dampening energy if it’s cloaking an entire star system,” Maddox said.

“I would agree with that, sir.”

“Could be another Yon Soth barrier?”

“I didn’t anticipate such a thing. Let me run some computations.” Galyan’s eyelids fluttered.

Maddox turned to Andros, signaling.

The Kai-Kaus technician turned to his science board and began to input instructions with his fat fingers.

Maddox turned back to Galyan.

“Sir, I do not believe it is a barrier, but I have begun to suspect Yon Soth technology or something of that nature.”

Maddox snapped his fingers and pointed at one of the officers.

A second later, a holographic mini-map of the region of space appeared.

Maddox used the forefinger of his left hand, touching one of the areas they’d already checked, and then one that they were supposed to check. He traced his finger to the place where they were heading. He drew lines so a triangle appeared between the supposed null space and these others.

Maddox tapped at the holographic null space. “I wonder if that’s where we should test. I wonder if that’s what we came to find.”

“How did you arrive at your conclusion, Captain?”

Maddox glanced sharply at Galyan.

“I am sorry, sir. I have asked you about your methods. Would you forgive me for that?”

“Yes, yes. I forgive you.” Maddox pinched his lower lip. “Let us call it an intuitive guess.”

Galyan eyed the Captain as he realized that was not the case. It had not been an intuitive guess. He did not know why Maddox would say it had been then. Galyan added this to the man’s personality profile and gave it a huge question mark. He wanted to understand in order to understand the captain’s complex personality. Maddox was both domineering and commanding, and kind and forgiving. It was most perplexing.

“Shall we head there, sir?”

“Is that your suggestion?”

Galyan considered the captain. “Yes sir. It is my suggestion. The star system is odd. I have become curious. There does seem to be a reason we are supposed to check it.”

“Hmm, possibly.”

“But sir, you just said—”

Maddox held up a hand and shot Galyan another glance.

Misdirection, Galyan thought to himself. The captain was misdirecting him and possibly others on the bridge for reasons that he could not determine. He needed to pay more attention to the social dynamics on the bridge.

“We’ll head there after an hour of preparation,” Maddox said. “Then, we’ll make a ten-light-year jump. It will likely take three jumps to get there. Afterward, we’ll jump into the middle of the null realm, figuring out what is causing the lack of energy signature.”

“Is that a wise choice, sir?”

“Galyan,” Maddox said with bite to his voice. “I don’t need your approval or disapproval concerning my decisions. You will adhere to Patrol discipline while we’re in this region of space.”

“I understand, sir. Superior protocol will see us through dangerous situations and surely this is a most dangerous situation.”

“Why would you say that, Galyan? What makes it particularly dangerous?”

“Why, the distance from Earth, for one thing,” Galyan said. “The fact that an unknown entity of preponderant power seeks a thing, as far as we know, at a planet in this region of space is another reason.”

Maddox retreated to the captain’s chair, sitting upon it and swiveling first in one direction and then another as he examined his crew.

Galyan took the opportunity to study Keith, Andros and the others. He could feel heightened tension from them.

They had listened to the conversation. The captain had also spoke louder than normal. The captain must have done that for morale reasons. The captain paid attention to crew morale, as it was important, was it not, out here in the far Beyond? The crew needed high morale and needed to trust each other.

Oh, they trust the captain.

It was important to trust him, as he was in essence their father. A family needed to trust its father in order to take his directions as he ordered each to their tasks.

Galyan grew aware that Captain Maddox studied him. “Is something wrong, sir?”

Maddox smiled warmly. “Nothing at all, Galyan, other than we have an important mission to perform.” He rubbed his hands. “I’m curious to see what we’ll find in the so-called null or empty region.”

“I feel likewise,” Galyan said, as he projected his voice a little louder than normal.

Maddox glanced at him, perhaps thought of saying something, but then said nothing. Instead, Maddox stared at the main screen like a hero on a recruiting poster.

Once more, Galyan analyzed the crew. In the midst of it, he decided to study the mystery region of space instead. Thus, his sense of what went on in the bridge dimmed as he strained all of his Driving Force deified personality to pierce the riddle of the so-called null region of space they headed toward.

-20-

They’d been deep in the Beyond before, but there was something different this time. Valerie felt it.

Commander Valerie Noonan was aboard the starship, in Victory’s hangar bay checking her three-man Patrol vessel. It was small but packed with sensor equipment, stealth capacity and a few armaments. It could fight after a fashion, mainly in a planet’s skies.

Heading into the deep Beyond was like submerging deep in a submarine on combat patrol. There was pressure. She and the others felt it. Even Galyan might be on edge. How could psychological pressure affect a computer entity, though?

Only Maddox seemed immune to pressure.

Valerie sighed. She’d had to deal with Maddox ever since joining Victory years ago when she’d left with him on the original mission. There hadn’t even been a starship then. They’d had to find the unique and ancient vessel on their own.

Now they were on a similar sort of mission, searching for a unique thing. This time, they didn’t know exactly what it was. This time, they had an enemy of preponderant ability seeking it as well.

Valerie remembered the Crowder System. It had been frightening, the pressure similar to this. They were going up against the Mastermind. He had Ardazirhos and portals. There had been something else, too. In the Crowder System, Maddox had faced a strange entity in a strange realm. He’d left the Builder potential there, deep inside a high gravity planet.

Valerie shook her head. She didn’t want to think about the Crowder System. She didn’t want to think about what they were heading to. She didn’t like anything that had the word null or nullification and you couldn’t tell what was there. Especially if it had anything to do with the Yon Soths.

The Old Ones were wicked, powerful creatures. She should know. She’d had an independent command before, killing an Old One in the Omicron 9 System. She’d taken over fleet command from Lord Byron, smashing the Yon Soth from space with hellburners.

She continued checking the small Patrol vessel. At last, she heard a jump klaxon. One more jump after this and they’d reach the null place.

After the jump, Valerie got up, shrugged off the lag and spoke with her first mate. Then she headed for Victory’s bridge.

At the main hatch, she asked permission to come aboard and Maddox granted it. As she walked onto the bridge, he told her to brace, as they we’re jumping again. She had time to think, that’s too soon. Then Valerie crouched down as the star drive jumped the ship ten entire light years.

When Valerie raised her head, she felt something wet under her nose. She touched there and found a trickle of blood.

Valerie was an athletic woman, with long, brunette hair and a shapely figure that she worked hard to keep. Now that she was a lieutenant commander, she wasn’t going to let herself run to fat or get sloppy in any way. She was going to stay as sharp as ever.

Wiping the blood from her nose, she approached the captain’s chair as Maddox gazed at the main screen.

The others had all shrugged off jump lag. Andros was at his science board, Galyan stood rigid watching and the others waited, the weapons officer alert and ready in case they’d have to engage in combat.

Valerie stared at the main screen, seeing nothing out there.

“Nothing,” Maddox said, indicating the main screen. “This tells us no more than we knew before. Galyan, how far are we from this null space?” Maddox turned and repeated the question.

“Oh, I am sorry sir. I was attempting to measure the exact distance. I believe it is fifty AUs, sir.”

“Fifty AUs. That close and we still can’t see anything.”

“That is correct, sir,” Galyan said.

“Increase magnification,” Maddox said.

The image on the screen leapt nearer. There was heavy darkness ahead of them.

“Is there radiation, any kind of substance we can sense through that?” Maddox asked.

“Negative, sir,” Andros said.

Maddox glanced at Valerie. “What do you think?”

“That we’re far from home.”

“Granted,” Maddox said. “Perhaps we should jump straight into that.”

“Sir,” Galyan said. “I suggest we allow ourselves time to recuperate just a little before the next jump.”

“Point well taken,” Maddox said.

Valerie was surprised the captain had accepted Galyan’s suggestion so readily. If she’d said that—she shook her head. “Should I get into the Patrol boat and scout ahead?”

Maddox mused upon the possibility until he said, “No.”

Valerie knew better than to repeat the question, so she continued to watch as the starship approached the edge of the null region.

“What’s that?” Andros asked.

Maddox swiveled his chair to look at him. “Report.”

“Sir,” Andros said, clicking a switch on his science board.

The main screen split in two. One side showed a dark object oozing out of the null region. The other side showed normal space or the greater null region.

Valerie took several steps forward, eyeing the main screen. “I think that’s a spaceship.”

Maddox grunted in agreement. “Give me greater magnification.”

That happened.

The ship seemed like a giant X, like the one Galyan had inspected a week ago. Maybe that gave Maddox an idea.

“Galyan,” Maddox said, “I want you to deploy onto that and see what it is.”

“I suggest we move a little closer before I go,” Galyan said, “unless you want to launch a holographic-image booster.”

“No,” Maddox said, “let’s get closer.”

Keith maneuvered the starship as they accelerated, gaining velocity.

“Let’s try it now,” Maddox said an hour later.

“Yes sir.”

The holoimage disappeared. He was gone less than a minute. When Galyan reappeared, he seemed stricken.

Valerie beat Maddox to it. “What happened, Galyan?”

Maddox scowled at her.

Valerie backed off. “I’m sorry, sir.”

“No, no,” Maddox said. “It’s a pertinent question. Galyan, did you find something distressing?”

“Sir, I was able to range through the ship.”

“Why didn’t you send us any recordings?”

“I was sending.”

They all glanced at Andros.

“I didn’t receive anything,” the Chief Technician said.

“That is strange,” Galyan said. “There is another thing. I could go to a certain point in the ship and then nothing. I could go no farther.”

Maddox snapped his fingers. “Maybe you couldn’t project yourself into the area still in the null zone.”

“Yes. I think whatever causes the dampening also dampened my projection ray.”

Maddox leaned back in his chair, obviously thinking.

“Does that mean we can’t enter the null region?” Valerie asked.

“Unknown,” Maddox said. “Galyan?”

“I do not know, either.”

On the main screen, they observed the X-shaped vessel that had oozed halfway out of the null space.

“Sir,” Valerie said, “may I make an observation?”

Maddox nodded.

“I don’t think it’s wise to risk Victory in that,” Valerie said. “I think this is why you have a Patrol scout along. I should see if we can maneuver into and through the null region, and also see what’s in there.”

“You may have a point,” Maddox murmured.

Valerie straightened.

Keith turned around from the helm. This time, he showed a stricken look.

Valerie ignored it.

“I request permission to come along,” Keith said.

Maddox looked at Keith and then at Valerie. “Permission granted.”

“What?” Valerie asked. “Sir, respectfully, this is my ship and thus my decision.”

Maddox stared at her before nodding. “Commander Noonan, would you allow Lieutenant Maker to pilot your Patrol vessel into the null region?”

“Ah…yes,” she said.

“Good. By the way, I’m coming with you.”

“Sir, I must protest. That’s strictly against regulations. I cannot allow it.”

“Commander,” Maddox said. “I’m not arguing the point. I’m coming.”

Valerie shifted where she stood, in a quandary. She didn’t want to cause friction between them this deep in the Beyond. She also didn’t want to jeopardize her independence of command. She’d worked hard to get where she’d gotten.

“Sir,” she said, “I regret to inform you that I will not allow you to join the mission.”

Maddox’s left eyebrow arched upward.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Valerie said. “This is my final word on the matter.”

“Commander,” Maddox said. “I appreciate what you’re saying, but I’m pulling rank in this matter.”

Even though this was the bridge on Victory, Valerie remained stubborn. She wasn’t going to let him bully her. She was going to stand her ground, and make him pay later if thought he could just push her around because he was bigger and stronger than she was.

“Sir, on my ship—that’s against Star Watch protocol. I forbid it.”

Maddox raised a hand as if to forestall a spate of words. “I’m not attempting to override you with Star Watch protocol, Commander. I’m overriding you with my new writ of authority. I received it directly from the Commonwealth Parliament, signed by the Prime Minister himself.”

“Excuse me, sir?” Valerie asked in obvious disbelief.

Maddox stood, taking a paper from a slot from his chair. He handed it to her.

Valerie scanned the writ quickly, soon recognizing what this was. She found it astonishing. “This is ambassadorial, uh, power, the power to make and break treaties.”

“Correct,” Maddox said. “It also gives me the authority to overrule any Star Watch commander when we’re in the Beyond. That includes you within the normal table of ranks and ship personnel.”

Valerie stared at the writ. What would a good space lawyer say about this?

“This is genuine?” she asked.

Once more, Maddox cocked an eyebrow.

“Sir, I’m not questioning your integrity. You are known, however, to use deception to your advantage on many occasions.”

“This is not one of them,” Maddox said mildly.

“Galyan,” Valerie said, holding up the writ.

“I understand your unspoken question, Valerie. Yes, it is an authentic document, although that is a copy. The captain possesses governmental authority to override a Star Watch officer on their vessel given our present situation.”

Valerie turned to Maddox. “Okay, I acquiesce. You’re coming with me.”

“I’m commanding the vessel,” Maddox said.

“Of course you are, sir, and I’m also joining the mission aboard my own ship.”

“Yes,” Maddox said.

“I’m also lodging a formal note of protest against your using this authority over me.”

“That’s your prerogative,” Maddox said mildly.

“It is indeed,” Valerie said.

The nearest hint of a flush crept up Maddox’s neck. Perhaps he didn’t like her stern matter aboard his starship, especially on the bridge as he sat in the captain’s chair. But she didn’t care to be overruled about her vessel. Even so, she would acquiesce in this. She’d lodged her protest. She’d done what she could.

One thing Valerie did was play by the rules. This time, Captain Maddox seemed to be playing by them as well. Unfortunately, he had an overpowering hand.

Maddox stood. “Let’s get started. I want to see what’s in the null region.”

Valerie thought about many things she’d liked to say. Instead, she followed Maddox as he departed the bridge. He was right about one thing. She wanted to know what was in the null region and what was going to happen next.

-21-

Valerie wondered once again if she’d made a mistake taking a demotion in order to join the expedition.

Last mission, she’d commanded the Kit Carson, a Patrol frigate with a crew of twelve. That was quite different from Darter Tarrypin with a crew of three.

There’d been a debate about taking the Tarrypin over the Kit Carson. One could easily park inside Victory with the Tarrypin but not the Kit Carson. One could enter a planet’s atmosphere to land with the Tarrypin. One was tiny and the other able to help fight a space battle. In the end, the decision remained with the Tarrypin. Thus, if Valerie wanted to join the expedition as an independent commander, she’d have to go back to the smaller vessel. That, of course, had been her choice.

Valerie sat at the Tarrypin’s pilot board. Captain Maddox was in the vessel’s command chair. Keith sat at weapons.

Ensign Dominic was in the engine room.

Valerie had decided to pilot instead of having Keith do so out of sheer frustration with Maddox. She looked around the tiny bridge, proud of the little vessel.

The Tarrypin was larger than the experimental darter they’d used a while back. She wouldn’t call it cramped in here, though. The Tarrypin was designed for deep missions, giving the typical crew of three roomy quarters.

Normally, the Kit Carson could go deeper and stay out longer. But when mated to Victory, the Tarrypin had far greater range because Victory did.

The darter was shaped like a great space bomber with a delta wing. It could land on a planet and had light armaments, several 20mm guns, a few anti-missiles and one offensive missile. It lacked energy weapons and did not possess an electromagnetic shield. It had a special polymer hull that made it stealthy. It had a star-drive jump, but did not have a Laumer Drive. Overall, the darter was a unique and interesting little vessel.

Valerie touched the controls. This had been her first independent command, and thus held special memories for her. She glanced back at Maddox. He was in nominal command of her vessel now. She shook her head. She wasn’t going to fret about it, but get on with things.

“Are you ready to enter the null zone?” Keith asked from weapons.

Valerie glanced at him. Keith wasn’t smiling. Thus, he hadn’t said that as a joke. She frowned. Who did he think he was? They were friends, but he was a lieutenant and she a commander, and this was her ship.

At that moment, Valerie realized it did bother her that Maddox had unilaterally taken control with his special writ of authority.

“Commander,” Maddox said, interrupting her thoughts. “Are you paying attention?”

“Yes sir,” Valerie heard herself say.

The darter closed rapidly upon the null zone.

Valerie had to remind herself yet again this was not like null territory they’d entered once to find a Destroyer of the Nameless Ones. This null region seemed to have some kind of dampening field. Even now, it acted as a shield or screen against their sensors. The other side was invisible. Perhaps this was a more subtle barrier than the one they’d faced in the Crowder System.

“Decrease velocity,” Maddox said.

“Yes, Captain,” Valerie said, as she touched the pilot’s board.

“Anything, Mr. Maker?” Maddox asked.

“My board is clear,” Keith said.

Valerie heard Maddox rise and saw him move to Keith’s board, studying sensor readings. She smiled to herself. Now, Keith knew what it felt having the captain override him.

“Hmm.” Maddox went back to his chair, sitting and contemplating. It almost seemed as if he was going to ask her opinion.

Should the darter slow more and inch into the null zone? That would be her recommendation. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him so, despite the captain’s displeasure at receiving such suggestions.

Valerie looked at him. Maddox stared at her. She realized he’d been watching her. Was this some sort of test? She clamped her mouth shut, deciding to let him make his own mistakes.

Maddox stood as he stared at the small main screen. “Decrease velocity again. Let’s go into this at a crawl.”

Valerie nodded even as she complied.

The Tarrypin inched toward the strange, hidden star system. That was funny in a way. It’s turtling had been a beacon to Galyan. She blinked in wonder. Had someone caused the dampening fields to hide it, to cause one like Galyan to come running to investigate?

“Sir,” Valerie said.

“Yes.”

“What do we know about the Mastermind?”

Maddox remained silent.

Valerie turned to look at him.

He nodded to her. “I see the direction of your question. You wonder if the star system is meant to trap us.”

“Yes sir. Do you think that’s possible?”

“It’s certainly possible. However, is it probable?” Maddox tapped his chin. “Given what we know about the Mastermind, a few hints left by Lisa Meyers—she seemed to think he was some sort of supreme strategist. According to what we know, she sent a team to destroy part of his team. They used portals, just like the portals Ardazirhos have used to enter Star Watch Headquarters and the Library Planet archives. That inclines me to believe they could have sent assassins against any of us at any time.”

“Maybe Victory is their intended prize,” Valerie said.

“Possibly,” Maddox said, “but I suspect a center-galaxy alien already has superior technology compared to ours.”

“Do we know that for a fact?”

“Oh yes,” Maddox said. “The Crowder System showed us that. Still, it was a good suggestion, good thinking and critical analysis. In this instance, no—I don’t think this is a trap specially made to capture us.” He squinted at the main screen. “We’re fast approaching the barrier.”

“The barrier, sir?” Valerie asked, her voice rising.

Maddox frowned. “I don’t think we’re about to face an indestructible shield like the Crowder System barrier. I spoke metaphorically, nothing more.”

“I see,” Valerie said.

She concentrated. In moments, the Tarrypin departed regular space, moving into the null zone. The main screen became dark. Keith shouted that the sensors read nothing but the closest areas.

It was like driving a car on Earth, where the headlights only showed a short distance ahead and the vehicle traveled on a rainy mountain road at one hundred kilometers per hour.

It was madness except that space was normally empty. Was this place empty?

The Tarrypin continued through the nearly impenetrable stellar gloom. Suddenly, they slid into a different zone. Sensors pinged. They could scan much farther than just seconds ago.

“Sir, look at this.” Valerie clicked a switch. A tiny dot appeared on the main screen.

“Is that a dwarf star?” Maddox asked.

“According to my readings, yes sir, in the center of this mess.”

“There are planets, too. Lieutenant, count and categorize them.”

“Yes sir,” Keith said. It wasn’t long before he added, “I’m counting four gas giants, sir. The largest are near Jovian size. There are two terrestrial planets. One is near the dwarf star and the other at an orbit between that of Venus and Earth.”

“What about comets?” Maddox asked.

“Sir,” Valerie said. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if both of you have noticed there’s no Oort cloud. We seem to have entered the star system at a Neptune-distant orbit. There’s not even a Kuiper Belt here.”

“That’s an astute observation,” Maddox said.

“I also find it interesting that our sensors seem to be working within the dampened zone.”

“Yes,” Maddox said. “Good point.”

“Sir,” Keith said, “Look at that. It seems like battle damage to me.”

Keith switched views. On the main screen drifting and destroyed vessels appeared, all of them of battleship size or larger.

“The wrecks are near the barrier of gloom,” Valerie said.

Maddox squinted thoughtfully.

“They seem to be of different types.” Keith showed long-range shots of various vessels.

“Do you recognize their type, make and nationality or race?” Maddox asked.

Keith clicked through several of them again. “Unknown, unknown, unknown. Sir, these are definitely alien vessels, each ship completely different from the others and from anything we know.”

“No Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan vessels?” Maddox asked.

“None that I can recognize,” Keith said.

“So,” Maddox said, as he drummed his fingers on an armrest. “We’re learning more. What do you suppose caused the damage? You said battle damage. Can you validate that?”

Keith earnestly studied the various long-range shots. Soon, “I retract my former statement, sir. I do not detect any energy weapons damage.”

“What do you think accounted for their destruction, then?” Maddox asked.

“We’ll have to take a closer look to determine that.”

Maddox rubbed his chin, swiveled the chair to look at Keith. “That’s an excellent suggestion.” He swiveled back to Valerie. “Take us toward the nearest wreck. That one there in quadrant ten-sixty-two-nineteen.”

“Yes sir,” Valerie said, as she began to manipulate her board.

The Tarrypin headed for a large alien vessel. This one wasn’t X-shaped like the one Galyan had detected earlier. It was oval, perhaps twice the size of Victory.

In an hour, Keith’s sensor scan was complete. “It’s old. From what I’m reading, it has been a derelict for hundreds, maybe even a thousand years, for all I know.”

“Go on,” Maddox said.

“I can’t explain the damage. There are no holes in the hull, although the hull is crumpled in places. Perhaps a biological infestation slew the entire crew.”

“That’s more than a little disconcerting.” Maddox said.

Valerie spoke up. “I have a theory.”

“Yes,” Maddox said.

“There hasn’t been any damage to our ship, at least none that I can detect, nor are there any forces at work on it. I wonder…all the derelict ships we’ve seen like that have been large.”

“Go on,” Maddox said.

“Could the very size of the ship cause the damage?” Valerie asked. “Maybe the null or dampening fields retard large ships from moving through. Small ones avoid whatever affects the large ones.”

Maddox was studying her. “How did you reach your conclusion?”

Valerie cocked her head. “I don’t know. An intuition or hunch, perhaps?”

Maddox studied her a few moments longer, saying nothing. At last, “Any signs of life on any of the planets?”

“Uh…not yet,” Valerie said.

“I’ve seen enough of the derelict,” Maddox said. “Commander, turn back toward the star and scan the entire system. Lieutenant, check to see if anything is moving out there. If not, catalog all stellar phenomena.” Maddox rose, leaving the bridge.

Where’s he going? Valerie thought to herself.

She and Keith exchanged glances. “Was that odd just now?” Keith asked.

“I don’t know,” Valerie said. What had gotten into Maddox? Something, she suspected. “You’d better cataloging.”

“Aye, aye,” Keith said.

They both went to work, seeing what they could discover about this mystery star system.

-22-

Maddox stumbled once the bridge hatch closed behind him. He staggered down the short corridor into a tiny gym.

He’d left because his head had begun to throb and he didn’t know what caused it. As he considered the problem, he realized the throbbing had begun the moment Valerie suggested that large ships couldn’t enter the star system.

Why should her suggestion cause a headache? That was more than odd.

Maddox undid his jacket, setting it aside. He took off his shirt and set it aside, too. Then he stripped off his shoes and trousers until he was just in his briefs.

He climbed onto a stationary bicycle and he began to pedal. He began smoothly and at a normal speed. Soon, he accelerated and pedaled as if he drove up Mount Everest. He sweated until his heart pounded and physical exhaustion neared. Even so, he continued to pedal, putting his head down and gripping the handlebars with manic strength.

By degrees, the headache receded, which was strange. The headache should have increased because of his increased tension and blood pressure. But in this instance, that was not the case.

Abruptly, he ceased pedaling and found himself bathed in sweat. He climbed off the bike and entered the small shower, a communal shower in this case.

He gave himself a quick blast of cold water, stepping out and toweling himself dry. He thereupon donned his garments.

As he did, he felt a tickle in his subconscious, a tickle perhaps in his intuitive sense.

Maddox squinted. What did that tell him? He perceived that some kind of mentality observed the ship and possibly sent a telepathic message.

He attempted to pinpoint the message with his Balron-trained senses. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t come to grips with it. But he felt something there, hovering, watching. Could it be the Mastermind or an agent of the Mastermind?

Maddox bent his head in thought, using his intuitive senses. No. He didn’t think this was the Mastermind.

Maddox considered the Mastermind. That being had invaded Star Watch Headquarters with secret agents. On an earlier mission, the Mastermind had used the Yunus and other Ardazirhos to try to free a strange entity imprisoned in a sphere in the Outer Courts of the Temple of Life. That meant the Mastermind was an enemy of the Temple of Life, a Builder construct and of the Guardian there. Maddox didn’t understand the ramifications to all that, but he believed the Mastermind was inimical to the people of Earth. That made the Mastermind his enemy.

There was something else. The Mastermind was from the center of the galaxy. This place was barely outside the Orion Spiral Arm as one headed for the Scutum-Centaurus Arm. Thus, Maddox felt a sense of allegiance to this area, at least against outsiders.

Maddox shook his head. He needed to concentrate on the tickle against his brain. He was aware of something out there. It could be friend, it could be foe. He had no idea. Was the thing attempting to warn them from taking Victory in here, or was it trying to scare Victory away?

Maddox exited the small gym, went to an equally small mess, and made a sandwich and got some water. He ate thoughtfully, drank and then rose. He glanced at his chronometer. He would give the others another hour.

Maddox went to his cabin, lay down and got back up, going to the engine room.

Dominic, a stout young ensign, watched the Tarrypin’s engines.

“Is everything shipshape?” Maddox asked.

“Yes sir,” Dominic said.

Maddox spoke with Dominic for a couple of minutes more.

Afterward, Maddox returned to his room, lay on the cot, put his hands behind his head and stared at the low ceiling. Maddox smiled as he thought of Jewel, her frogs and little notebook, how she marked off how many crickets and beetles and other insects each frog ate. That was his daughter.

Would Jewel be a scientist when she grew up? Would she be a starship officer? Heaven forbid.

Maddox sat up.

He didn’t want his daughter among the stars. He wanted her on Earth leading a normal life. He was out here so she wouldn’t have to do such things.

He checked his chronometer, got up, moved through the corridor and reentered the small bridge.

“What do you have so far?” Maddox asked upon entering.

Keith began to explain the broad outlines of the star system. “It would appear there are gas clouds of varying density, many asteroidal objects strewn throughout the region and various small and blasted-apart vessels.” Keith warmed to the topic. “There are clots of masses of such military ships. Their ages are difficult to determine, but in my opinion are likely very old.”

“Is that it?” Maddox asked, as Keith had simply ceased talking.

Keith shook his head. “I’ve also found weird objects, functioning devices of varying sizes. Some are like asteroids, some as small as a large battleships. Each object radiates… dampening power. Many have undeterminable energies, at least undeterminable at this point to me.”

“I see,” Maddox said. “What can you tell me about the second terrestrial planet?”

“There’s a lot of debris around it,” Keith said. “Again, some of the debris is huge, some tiny and some technological.”

“Radiating dampening power?”

“I suspect so. Oh, and there many gas clouds orbiting the planet.”

“Have you detected life on the planet?” Maddox asked.

“There seems to be some industrial output in certain locations. There are radioactive fields in others.”

Maddox perked up. “Is it radiation from the dwarf star?”

“Possibly,” Keith said, “or possibly from a conflict where one or both sides used nukes or antimatter bombs.”

“A nuclear holocaust? Is that what you’re trying to say?”

“That’s unknown, sir. If it were an ancient nuclear holocaust, one would think the radiation would have died away by now. That’s not what I’m seeing, though. Some of those sources are still emitting radiation like a heater emits heat.”

“That’s a baroque way to say it,” Maddox commented, “but thank you. Now, tell me about satellites, moons and the other planets. Have you detected any orbiting satellite cities for instance?”

“None so far,” Keith said.

“Have you spotted any ships moving on their own power?”

“None sir,” Keith said.

“Comets?”

“None.”

“What does that tell you?”

“That if there were comets here, they’ve long ago been burned up.”

“Huh,” Maddox said. “Can you contact Victory?”

“We’ve tried,” Valerie said, “but have failed each time. There is no contact. We’re completely cut off from them.”

“Cut off,” Maddox said. “Six thousand light years from home and now cut off from our starship.”

“We’re truly alone, aren’t we?” Valerie said.

Keith shivered and paled.

Maddox didn’t care for that. Had the greatest pilot, the ace of Star Watch, lost his nerve? He eyed Valerie. She seemed calm. No, she seemed more than calm. The anger that had been motivating her earlier was still there, although she had managed to shield some of it.

Maddox’s chest expanded. He felt excitement being here. This was one of the reasons why he was in Star Watch: the excitement of something new, something never seen by another human. Of course, this was dangerous, and of course, he wanted to go back to Meta and Jewel. But to give up doing things like this…

Once more, Maddox’s chest expanded. He was a Patrol and Intelligence officer. He wondered briefly if some of his extra talents had altered him in some way so that he wasn’t the man that he had been when first entering Star Watch. Ah! Of course, he was the same man. He was Captain Maddox and he needed to concentrate on his job.

“Listen,” he told the other two. “We’ve seen enough. It’s time to go back to Victory and then make our decision about what to do next.”

“Sir?” Valerie asked.

Maddox studied her. “Yes, you’re right. We need to take a quick look at the planet first. Set up for a star-drive jump to get us there.”

“Yes sir,” Valerie said.

As she made inputs to the board and readied the ship for the jump, Maddox wondered why he’d wanted to turn back to Victory. That was odd. He—

Maddox winced at sudden pain in his forehead. He rubbed the spot. As he continued to rub, he realized a hidden intelligence had communicated or inserted the thought to leave now into his mind.

This was startling. It reminded him of the time he’d faced Captain Becker. He hadn’t liked that time whatsoever. Perhaps they had some of the telepathically protective headbands on Victory. That would be another reason to go back.

“This is odd,” Valerie said from helm.

“Explain,” Maddox said.

“Just a minute, sir, if you will…” Valerie continued to work, soon tapping her control panel in anger or perhaps frustration.

“Now you must tell me what is going on, Lieutenant,” Maddox said.

Valerie whirled around. “It’s Lieutenant Commander.”

“Of course,” Maddox said, “my mistake.”

She waited for him to say he was sorry, but he did not. With a glower, she pointed at the control panel, “The ship isn’t allowing me to set up for a star-drive jump.”

“What?” Maddox said jumping from his chair, heading to her panel.

“I know what I’m doing and the panel isn’t working. None of the operative systems is working for the star-drive jump.”

Maddox stopped short and looked at her. “Do you mind if I check for myself, Lieutenant Commander.”

Valerie actually looked abashed and looked down. “No sir, go ahead.” She stood.

Maddox stepped near as his hands flew over the controls. In a moment, he tapped the panel and leaned back. “I confirm your report. The star-drive jump does not seem…”

He recalled the idea put in his mind to return immediately to Victory. “Is it possible these dampening fields don’t allow a star-drive jump to take place?”

“Wouldn’t that take extraordinary power?” Valerie asked.

“And tampering with the very fabric of space around us?” Keith added.

Maddox was rubbing his jaw. “We’ll have the engineers and techs go over the darter to make sure everything is functioning correctly. We’ll ask Ludendorff and Galyan to study this new possibility. That means we’re returning to Victory.”

“My darter is running perfectly,” Valerie said.

“What if there’s been tampering?” Maddox asked.

“From whom?” she asked.

Maddox grimaced. “Commander, we’ve faced saboteurs on many a trip. Surely, it would be no surprise if there was one here now, at least in Victory.”

“With the security you enforce, wouldn’t such a thing be impossible?” Valerie asked.

“Perhaps the next thing to impossible,” Maddox said, “but I try not to discount any possibility as I try to discover what is wrong in any given situation.”

“You’re right. That’s sound reasoning.”

“Oh, I’m so glad that you concur,” Maddox said sarcastically. He stepped back. “Let’s go. Take us back to Victory.”

With that, Maddox headed for the hatch. He didn’t need to observe Valerie to know she scowled behind his back. But that was fine. For a reason he could not yet pinpoint, he wanted her slightly agitated for her own good.

-23-

Leaving the null zone proved as simple and as terrifying as entering it. The darter zoomed through intense blackness, emerging suddenly into the glorious galaxy, able to pinpoint and see things normally with its sensors and teleoptics, and immediately raised communications with Victory.

Seconds later, Galyan appeared among them. “I am so happy to see you. I was worried that something might have happened.”

Keith whirled round in shock.

Maddox hid a smile. Galyan had startled the ace, as the holoimage was wont to do when he simply appeared.

“Sir, we have been monitoring and attempting to break through the barrier with our various devices. We even sent in a probe. It failed as soon as it passed or entered into the null zone.”

“What else can you tell me?” Maddox asked.

“Nothing else of note, sir,” Galyan said.

“No other ships or any other thing in range and appearing near Victory?”

“No, sir. Do you think they should have?”

“Just checking,” Maddox said. “Oh, while you’re at it, can you run a quick diagnostic on our star-drive jump?”

“Or we could simply try to jump,” Valerie said.

“We could,” Maddox said, “but let’s hear Galyan’s analysis first.”

The holoimage disappeared. A few moments later, he reappeared. “The star drive should work, sir. All my calculations indicate that it will.”

“Shall I give it a shot?” Valerie asked.

“Proceed as you wish,” Maddox said with a wave.

Valerie manipulated for a few moments. “The board says we’re fully capable of a star-drive jump. Should I test it by trying?”

“Do you feel a need to?” Maddox asked.

“No,” Valerie said. “This is different from when it wouldn’t work earlier.”

“What does she mean, sir?” Galyan asked.

“We’ll discuss that in the briefing,” Maddox said. “For now, we’re going to return to the ship and take a break. Then we’re going to have a briefing. We’re going to decide on our next move.”

After the Tarrypin docked, the crew exited and other hangar-bay crew worked on repairs, checking over everything.

At 0900 hours, Maddox called a meeting in the conference chamber. They sat around the huge conference table as they had many times before with all the regulars in attendance, including Sergeant Riker.

Valerie reported on what they’d found, including screenshots from the sensors and teleoptics.

“Any opinions, thoughts or conjectures?” Maddox asked.

The captain sat at the head of the table. He noticed a lack of pressure in his mind, no longer sensing the intelligence or being in the null system. Should he mention the incident? No. Maybe he’d been hallucinating, although he didn’t believe that.

Maddox listened as Ludendorff began to pontificate in his usual style, suggesting they continue cataloging and then returning at once to Earth. There, they could take their time deciding.

“I’m surprised at you, Professor,” Maddox said. “That’s not how we normally run things aboard Victory. We make the decisions and act decisively.”

“Of course, of course,” Ludendorff said. “I know that’s the usual procedure. Perhaps, however, it’s time to turn things around, change things up. After all, we’re dealing with nefarious entities of unknown brilliance. We’re also far from home and quite alone. Perhaps we’re not even thinking clearly this far into the Beyond.”

“Do you believe you are not thinking clearly, Professor?” Galyan asked.

Ludendorff gave Galyan a penetrating glance. “I fully believe I am. That does not necessarily mean that I actually am, however.”

“Why do you feel a need to doubt yourself?” Galyan asked.

“Not just me.” The professor waved his hand to indicate all of them. “I doubt, at least I pose the possibility, that something may have affected our thinking. What do you think, Captain? Could that be possible?”

“I’m intrigued why you’ve asked me this,” Maddox said. “I admit that I sensed an alien intelligence earlier.”

“When?” asked Ludendorff.

“In the null system,” Maddox said.

“What?” Valerie asked. “I didn’t sense anything.”

“I think something suggested, subliminally, at least, that we refrain from using the star-drive jump,” Maddox said. “That’s why I said what I did.”

“Something told you?” Valerie asked.

“I think it’s possible,” Maddox said. “Told would be too strong a term, however. It was more of a hint, perhaps how a tempting devil does it when he sits on a shoulder and whispers nefarious advice.”

“Whoa-ho,” Ludendorff said. “Let me get this straight. You believe this star system contains the devil and his minions? That they’re whispering to you while you’re on the mission?”

“I didn’t say anything of the sort,” Maddox replied. “I was using an analogy as a possibility. Not that a devil did that, but some being or intelligence—haven’t we dealt with telepathic foes before?”

“Of course,” Ludendorff said.

“I’m…curious that you wondered if something was affecting our thinking out here,” Maddox said. “Have you sensed or felt an intelligence attempting to manipulate you or whisper hints?”

“I have not,” Ludendorff said, “but then I don’t have your exalted intuitive senses.”

Maddox sat very still, attempting to sense whether something had happened to Ludendorff. He wasn’t sure.

“Tell me, Professor, what is making you uncomfortable out here?”

Ludendorff looked around the table. “It’s unusual that I admit to any failings. I have begun to feel…unease. I don’t know if it’s the distance we’re from Earth or if the unease emanates from the star system. I don’t feel any alien manipulation in my thoughts. I’m anxious. I admit that. I’ve begun to suspect our enemy possesses great intelligence and craftiness. Therefore, I urge caution. I doubly do so now hearing that you’re hearing voices, Captain.”

Maddox grimaced as anger touched his breast. “I didn’t say I’m hearing voices. I felt the hint of a whisper, the possibility of influence, of a thought. I believe I sensed it because of my Balron-trained senses. It was an intuitive thing I don’t believe I would have felt otherwise.”

“Enough,” Ludendorff said. “Do we have to listen to all that? To listen to you brag endlessly about your new abilities? Yes, you have marvelous abilities, Captain. No one doubts you, whatsoever. It’s just that…”

Ludendorff stopped, and he looked around at the others who were staring at him. The Methuselah Man put his leathery hands on the table. He nodded as if to himself. “I sense it now. I sense this unease. It’s causing me to act in a way that I do not want to act toward you, Captain. I frankly apologize, sir.”

“Never mind,” Maddox said. “It doesn’t matter.”

“But I believe it does,” Ludendorff said. “I believe there’s something taking place. I certainly don’t have your—I call them exalted abilities. I have my own, though. I’m sensing malignancy. I believe it emanates from yonder star system. The sooner we leave here, the better.”

“You may have a point,” Maddox said. “Perhaps good sense is urging us to go. I think, though, that this is exactly where we should explore. Our enemy—”

“Is the Mastermind our enemy?” Ludendorff asked, interrupting.

“Perhaps not in all things,” Maddox said, “but in this, I suspect so.”

“For what reason?” asked Ludendorff.

Maddox raised an eyebrow.

“I understand that his agents invaded Star Watch HQ,” Ludendorff said. “His agents also went to the Library Planet and lifted a few secrets. Does that mean he has nefarious intentions directed against us specifically? We don’t know that to be true. We may be making an entity into an enemy that we don’t need to worry about.”

“That’s a possibility,” Maddox admitted. “Does anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?”

“The Mastermind, as far as we know, worked to our detriment once before,” Galyan said. “Surely, that implies he is willing to do so again.”

“Yes, yes,” Ludendorff said. “Willing for a reason, if there’s something to gain from it. But does that necessitate he’s working against us here? Maybe we’re foolishly headed to a place we shouldn’t go. Let us try the other places first. We have two more to check. Afterward, we can return to Earth and have a detailed analysis, and then we can decide.”

“And perhaps lose precious time,” Maddox said.

“Do you feel time is of the essence?” Ludendorff asked.

Maddox cocked his head. “I don’t know. But jumping out this far and then jumping back, doing it several times—no, we’re here. I elect to return to the star system in the Tarrypin, heading for the second terrestrial planet.”

“But sir,” Valerie said, “that would take months, if we can’t use the star-drive jump to reach there. It would be months through normal acceleration and deceleration.”

“I’m well aware of that,” Maddox said.

“Wait a minute,” Ludendorff said. “You’re asking the rest of us to sit out here twiddling our thumbs and waiting while you go on this joyride, possibly to your doom, possibly to bring even worse wrath upon us? I think that’s a poor idea, Captain. I elect otherwise, if I’m given a vote on such a matter.”

“Your opinion matters,” Maddox said, even though he was determined to go. He’d rather have the crew with him than against him, however. “Let’s hear what the rest of you have to say.”

It turned out the others were evenly divided between Ludendorff and Maddox.

“Fine,” Ludendorff said. “I see it’s a tie, which means you’ll be the tiebreaker, surely, Captain.”

“We’re not voting on what we do,” Maddox said, “but I’m definitely interested in your opinions. Given that we’re evenly divided…we’ll go.”

“That’s just it,” Ludendorff said. “I don’t think you should go, Captain. It’s a mistake to send you.”

“Pray tell me why?” Maddox asked, coldly.

“Are you going to force me to say it?” Ludendorff asked.

Maddox folded his arms across his chest, waiting.

Ludendorff sighed. “I don’t think I should go, either. We’re too indispensable. We shouldn’t throw our lives away.”

Maddox snorted. “I agree we shouldn’t throw our lives away, but we’re not indispensable. This is our function. I’m going to do what I’m trained to do.”

Ludendorff massaged his forehead and shook his hoary head. “I don’t think that’s wise, sir. I think it’s a grave error. But I’ll do as told unless I think an order will lead to my detriment or death. Perhaps we in Victory should go to the other locales while you go to the mystery planet.”

Maddox thought about that. “That’s a good idea.”

Valerie and Keith both looked at him sharply.

“However,” Maddox said, “Valerie, you’ll accompany me to the planet.”

“It’s my ship,” Valerie said. “Of course I’m going.”

Maddox let that go. “Dominic will join us as the engineer, as he knows the Tarrypin best. Sergeant, how would you like to go with me on this mission?”

“Begging your pardon sir,” Riker said, “but I think—”

“Good,” Maddox said, interrupting. “I’m glad you agree. Meet me at the Tarrypin in four hours. We’ll head out then.”

Riker looked as if he would say more.

The sergeant was an older, seamy-faced man, dour, maybe considered a grouch by others. But he was one of the most handy men with a blaster on the crew. He had an artificial eye, leg and left arm because of a blast long ago. He’d often threatened retirement and looked as if he belonged in a retirement home. Yet there was something about him that Maddox trusted more than almost anyone else in a pinch. Riker had come through on so many occasions that surely warranted such good thoughts.

Riker now grumbled under his breath, but he nodded just the same.

“Are there any other comments or assessments?” Maddox asked.

There were not.

He banged his fist on the table. “The meeting is adjourned and it is decided. The starship will head to the next and last locales. They’re to study each and see what they can find. I expect you back in four months.”

“It shouldn’t take us that long, sir,” Keith said.

“Nevertheless,” Maddox said, “in four months, I hope to be out of this star system.”

“If you’re lucky,” Ludendorff said, “if you’re lucky.”

-24-

The Darter Tarrypin left Victory and headed once again for the null star system with Valerie at the helm. They soon passed through the initial gloom to slide through the dim system.

They crowded around the screen to see if things had changed since they left. It was gratifying to see that everything was as they’d left it.

“Huh,” Maddox said. “I almost wondered… No worries. We’re back where we started minus a few hours.”

Riker was on the bridge, frowning as he examined the small white dwarf star in the center of the dampened system.

“How fast do we go?” Valerie asked.

“I’m hoping to reach the terrestrial planet in two months,” Maddox said. “Thus, dramatically increase velocity to that end. Sergeant, do you remember how to pilot a darter?”

“Remember?” asked Riker, turning in surprise. “I’ve never done so.”

“You’ve flown a flitter and a shuttlecraft, have you not?”

“You know I have,” Riker said.

Maddox nodded. “You’ll have to spot us at the helm some. Commander, can you instruct the sergeant in his duties?”

“Are you sure it’s wise to have Riker at helm?” Valerie asked.

“There are three of us on the bridge,” Maddox said. “Dominic will remain in engineering. You and I will have to spell the engineer sometimes to give him a break. A third hand at helm, so you and I don’t become exhausted piloting—that seems like the height of wisdom. Besides, Patrol practice dictates that each member of the crew has three or more specialties.”

After a moment, Valerie shrugged noncommittally.

“You’ll begin to instruct him on the finer points,” Maddox said. “Sergeant, do pay attention to the commander. Our lives may depend upon your piloting skills in the future.”

“Aye,” Riker said gruffly.

So began the journey to the second terrestrial planet of the dampened or null system. The darter accelerated as the sensors strained to pierce the gloomy region. Valerie suggested they travel in stealth mode. Maddox said it would deplete too much energy for no appreciable gain, and it would slow them down, too. Stealth mode demanded slower to preferably no acceleration. As far Maddox could tell, there didn’t seem to be a need for stealth.

“By the time we need stealth movement,” Valerie said, “it might already be too late.”

Maddox frowned. “Commander, do you plan to squabble with me the entire journey there?”

Valerie’s face tightened, and it seemed she would argue about that. Then her jaw loosened as she shook her head. “No sir.”

“Excellent. Until we find a reason to use stealth, we will not, mainly in the interest of speed. We want to be out of the system in four months. That means we need to get to the planet sooner rather than later, as I don’t wish to spend too many days there.”

“Yes sir,” Valerie said.

Maddox eyed her, and he wondered at himself. Yes, the more he thought about it… “Then again…perhaps you have a point.” He nodded sharply. “I’ve just reconsidered. We’ll practice stealth for ninety minutes every third day.”

How would that help? Valerie didn’t ask that aloud, though. “Sir?” she asked.

Maddox shook his head, although he wondered why he’d just changed his mind. He hadn’t heard a voice of caution, but he had felt a trickle of something. He turned from Valerie. This was more than intuition. Did he sense the alien intelligence again? For several seconds, Maddox tested…something, doing it silently. The finding shocked him. He believed there was a subliminal message, one that had suggested stealth mode every third day for a short time. It hadn’t been telepathic… Maybe it had, but in a trickier than normal way.

Maddox stroked his chin. This was worth deep contemplation. Did the entity sending the subliminal thoughts know he sensed it?

“Are you feeling well?” asked Riker.

“Eh?” Maddox asked, turning, seeing the others watching him. “I’m fine. Just thinking.”

“Some deep thinking,” Riker said, eyeing him closely.

“It only seems so. You should try it sometime, the thinking, I mean. You might find it refreshing.”

Riker muttered, turning back to the main screen.

That nipped their observation in the bud. Maddox didn’t see how it would improve morale to talk about these subliminal messages. He’d wait and watch, and be extra vigilant regarding telepathic suggestions. For now, they needed to cross the dampened region with a minimum of fuss.

The journey continued as they gained velocity heading inward toward the distant second planet. At times, they had to maneuver in order to miss thickened areas of debris. At other times, it felt as if minute energy particles pelted the ship. The cabin lights dimmed and Valerie feared something was going to smash through the polymer hull. Maddox would sit at helm then, using intuitive thought to pilot. Or did he listen to subliminal suggestions?

Whatever the case, the darter inched its way toward the star. The farther they traveled the more debris they discovered. By the time they passed the third gas giant, it was obvious there had been an Inner System battle once. There was more than just minute particles of debris, but actual pieces of metal and then junked warships. A huge battle had taken place.

Valerie discovered dampening clots, the nullifying power radiating outward from the concentrations of nullity. Did the dampening fields originate from the clots? Did dampening machines do that? Because of the dampened concentrations, Valerie couldn’t pierce them with the sensors, and thus had no idea what caused the phenomenons.

Once, they went too near a concentration and nearly lost ship power. Afterward, whoever piloted stayed well away from them.

This was becoming an increasingly dangerous star system. Some of the phenomena caused Maddox to recall the Hormagaunt and the strange region of space around him. Could there be any connection?

Valerie and he decided not. The difference between the null space where they’d found the Destroyers of the Nameless Ones and the Hormagaunt’s odd space was the many regions of normal space in this star system. The normal space contained dampening clots and thus dampening fields, devices, junk and junked ships, concentrated gases, and an occasional field of bizarre and seemingly random energies.

Because the darter was behind schedule, Valerie ran a ship-wide diagnostic. She discovered that the darter had accelerated less than the instruments had said.

“There’s an energy drain at work,” Valerie told them. “The drain is aimed at our vessel.”

“How’s it happening?” Maddox asked.

“I don’t know that part yet.”

“Maybe I can help.”

Valerie showed him computations. He listened as Dominic explained what was happening to the engines. Maddox didn’t help pinpoint the exact problem, but he did ask a pertinent question.

“Do we have enough power to reach the second planet and leave the star system later?”

Dominic studied his tablet. “If the energy drain remands constant, I believe we’ll have just enough.”

Maddox frowned. He didn’t like the sound of that. Using the darter alone might have been a mistake. Maybe he should have brought several shuttles along. Maybe he should have left shuttles outside the star system as a way station until Victory returned. Did it make sense to backtrack and exit, waiting for Victory to return several months later?

“Tell me if there is any change in these algorithms or in the power drain.”

“Yes sir,” Dominic said.

“We continue for the second planet,” Maddox said.

Valerie looked away.

She obviously didn’t like his decision, but… Maddox didn’t shrug. He thought about his writ and his normal authority—

The captain’s head came up. It didn’t seem either of the other two had noticed. He sensed…subliminal mirth.

He walked out of the engine room and went to the gym, practicing some calisthenics.

Subliminal mirth—could Ludendorff have inadvertently hit upon the truth before? Did Satan and his minions run the second planet?

Maddox snorted with distain. That was absurd. However, Yon Soths were devilish creatures. The alien beings possessed qualities humans associated with biblical demons. Could Yon Soths or something equally evil be waiting on the second planet?

Subliminal mirth did not necessarily mean evil. Yes, this was a bizarre star system, and there could be a telepathic entity on the planet. But that wasn’t enough of a reason to abort the mission.

They would continue as they took precautions.

Maddox began doing pushups.

Ludendorff had had an interesting question. How could one tell if something was affecting his thinking? How could one know if his responses were changing, especially if there was no way to test against normal thinking?

Maddox didn’t like these kinds of quandaries. He trusted his senses. He advanced.  He hated to retreat. In that sense, he was like a New Man. Go forward. Do! To solely sit and think wasn’t his way. He was a man of action.

“We’ll act,” Maddox said, as he climbed to his feet. That solved the problem for now.

***

The Tarrypin continued toward the second planet. Thankfully, the power drain remained constant throughout the week. Every third day for ninety minutes, the Tarrypin used its stealth capability, effectively becoming invisible to anyone watching them.

Was that important?

Maddox mused about it on his cot, with his hands behind his head as he stared up at the low ceiling.

He’d determined that the subliminal thought occasionally impinging upon him was malignant in nature. Should he listen to a malignant thought?

On the cot, he used his intuitive ability. He didn’t sense any mirth or dismay.

Hmm. Some of the suggestions had been helpful. That meant other suggestions might be helpful as well. He’d wait and see.

The Tarrypin soon left the Outer System, the realm of the gas giants, as it entered the Inner System of the two terrestrial planets.

Finally, the darter reached a point where Valerie declared, “It’s time we start decelerating.”

“Make it so,” Maddox said.

The darter began to decelerate. It was a good thing, too, as the amount of debris, gas, junk and junked vessels and dampening fields increased instead of decreasing. The planet remained swathed in mystery, although they detected radiation patches, areas of radiation on the planet.

The dwarf star radiated more solar energy than that of the Sun, but nothing the darter couldn’t handle from this distance.

Three days later, the second planet was harder to see, not easier. It was as if a darkening fog enshrouded the planet. Then, the planet vanished behind the supposed space fog.

Maddox called a council of war, which included Ensign Dominic.

“What do we do? Was the second planet a mirage all this time? Have some of the hidden alien instruments in the system shown us a planet that didn’t really exist?”

“I don’t think so,” Valerie said, “because we measured planet density and mass.”

“It could have been an illusion,” Maddox said.

Valerie considered that. “If that’s true, then the alien equipment is so far beyond our own that I can’t explain it. And if that’s true, perhaps the star system really is a trap. Notice all the wrecks. Maybe the system is supposed to lure ships. Perhaps that accounts for the density of the wrecks and the gases and radiation we’re witnessing.

“Or the fighting was thickest here,” Riker said. “For that reason the alien devices are still thickest here.”

“How does any of that help with the disappeared planet?” Maddox asked.

Valerie shook her head.

Riker held up his hands.

Dominic didn’t give an opinion.

Maddox became thoughtful. “We’ll continue another six hours. If the planet still remains invisible after that, we’ll start a slow curve away and accelerate out of this area.”

“That sounds good to me,” Valerie said.

Riker agreed.

Four hours and thirteen minutes later, the darter left a thick belt of darkness. Once through, the second planet appeared in all its glory.

There was another change. The wrecks drifting around the planet were more than crumpled hulks or junk, but seemingly solid ships, albeit ones that no longer functioned. They were all of various designs, none of a type any of them had seen before, or were in any of the darter’s computer system.

A horrible and deadly space battle must have taken place around the planet at some point in time.

Valerie ran spectral analysis and more, doing everything she could find a date for the battle.

“In my estimation, after studying the half-life of certain isotopes I was able to pick up, I’d say we’re looking at a space battle from eleven thousand years ago.”

“Incredible,” Maddox said. “Do you think the dampening fields are also eleven thousand years old?”

“I’m beginning to think so.”

Maddox rubbed his cheek. “What could the Mastermind want from the planet that’s at least eleven thousand years old?”

“That’s the question, isn’t it? I’d say it’s something unusual and something—sir, I think we’re far out of our league in this. I’m beginning to think that Star Watch and the Commonwealth are like backward hillbillies compared to these vanished people.”

“Maybe,” Maddox said, sounding unconcerned. “If the planet does have advanced tech, I’m more determined to reach it, not less.”

Valerie muttered under her breath.

“What was that, Commander?”

“Nothing, sir. I just hope… No, forget it.”

Maddox did.

Soon, the Tarrypin passed the point where Mars would have been in orbit. They decelerated more, needing only a few more days to begin emergency braking in order to bring the darter into far orbit around the second planet of the null star system.

-25-

Maddox rose from his cot feeling irritated. He hadn’t slept well last night knowing they were approaching the strange planet. He got up, ate some concentrates and donned his garments. He went through the short corridor onto the bridge.

Valerie was at the helm monitoring their approach to the second planet.

“Morning,” Maddox said.

“Good morning, sir.” Valerie rubbed her eyes as she studied her board.

“Go get some shuteye. You look beat.”

Valerie lowered her hands and turned to him. “Begging your pardon, sir, but we’re nearing the planet. In the next hour or two, we’re going to have to decide if we’re hiding behind the moon.”

“There’s a moon? We haven’t seen one until now.”

“It’s faint. Sir, the amount of debris around the planet is incredible. It has to mean an ancient space battle, the most savage fights around the planet.”

“We’ve already agreed to all that.”

“I know. Maybe I’m tired. But this is too exciting. I don’t want to miss anything.”

“I can understand that.”

Valerie was silent for several seconds. “I’ve maintained stealth.”

“Good idea.” Maddox sat in the commander’s chair. A moment later, he went to the weapons board, observing the situation.

It was as Valerie had said. The region was thick with debris, gases and wrecks.

“When do you plan deceleration?” Maddox asked.

“Fifteen minutes.”

“You’re planning to use a drifting concentration of debris to hide that from anyone on the planet?”

“I am.”

“Which one?” he asked.

Valerie clicked some buttons.

The area appeared on the weapons board.

From that, Maddox made a few calculations, nodding. He didn’t doubt Valerie’s competence. Everything he would have done, she’d already planned. That got him to thinking.

“I have a question.”

Valerie must have heard something in his voice. She swiveled to face him. “Sir?”

“You could clearly command a much larger vessel, and perhaps if you were even more ambitious, a flotilla or taskforce. You’ve successfully led more than one battle, giving you one of the best resumes in Star Watch.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“I’m serious. Why have you continued to take these lesser assignments?”

Valerie shook her head. “First, I don’t think they’re lesser assignments, Frankly, this is some of the most important work being done in Star Watch.”

“You may be right.”

“Besides, I’m not finished learning.”

“Learning?”

“From you, sir. You’re a stern taskmaster and sometimes—sir, permission to speak frankly.”

“By all means.”

“Sometimes, to put it in plain English, you can be a pain in the ass.”

Maddox frowned. “What does that have to do with my being a stern taskmaster and you continuing to learn?”

Valerie squeezed her eyes closed before opening them wide. “I’m more beat than I thought. Did I actually say that?”

Maddox eyed her. Could the hidden entity from earlier be toying with Commander Noonan?

Valerie shook her head. “I’m sorry for saying that.”

“No worries,” Maddox said. “Let’s concentrate on the mission.”

Valerie turned back to the helm.

Maddox watched her, and he used his intuitive sense. He couldn’t feel the subliminal thoughts. Would he if the thing directed them at Valerie?

Soon, Maddox contemplated the second planet. What did the Mastermind seek there? Did the mission have anything to do with advanced computers? Whatever, it must be ancient.

That got Maddox thinking. This was the age of discovery and inventions. Usually, the newest thing was the best thing. Yet, in his experience, often the oldest thing proved most powerful and dangerous. Did that imply a weirdly powerful era thousands of years ago? Had Yon Soths, Hormagaunts and Builders vied against one another? Might they have been titans? Humans, Adoks and others were mere pygmies squabbling in the ruins.

Why had this planet been the center of such a titanic contest? Given the dampening equipment, why had no one else scrounged through the ruins?

From the weapons board, Maddox studied the planet and orbital space. He saw movement—movement other than mere drifting.

“Commander?”

“Sir?”

“Have you detected any other ships?”

“Do you mean shuttles or darters?”

“Any vessel under its own command,” Maddox said.

“I have. The others are stealthy.”

“What?”

“I don’t necessarily mean in stealth mode, but it does seem as if everyone is hiding or crawling like careful mice in a land full of hawks and coyotes.”

“That’s an odd way to say it, but descriptive nonetheless.” Maddox studied his weapons board. “Why haven’t you mentioned this before? It’s highly critical.”

Valerie swiveled around to stare at him. “That is unusual. I-I don’t have a good reason. I’m sorry. I should have.”

“Some of these shuttles could be from the Mastermind.”

“Are all of them?” Valerie asked.

Maddox considered the idea. “Are you suggesting others are here to mine items from this ancient site?”

“Hmm. Yes. That’s a good idea.”

Maddox eyed her.

“What’s wrong?” Valerie asked.

“Do you feel…anything unusual?” Maddox asked.

“Like what?”

“Stray thoughts, perhaps.”

“What does that mean?”

Maddox debated the idea. If Valerie couldn’t sense subliminal, alien thoughts in her mind—would it help her worrying about it?

“I’m tired, but I don’t think I could sleep now.”

“No,” Maddox said. “You’re doing fine.”

“I should have told you about the alien vessels.”

“See that you remember that.”

Valerie fell uneasily quiet as she studied her board.

Maddox engaged his institutive sense, seeking a telepathic enemy. He couldn’t sense or detect anything.

The darter neared a concentration of debris and gases.

“Hang on,” Valerie said. “I’m starting emergency deceleration.”

The vessel’s gravity dampeners openly strained so the G-forces wouldn’t crush their bodies.

The delta-wing darter moved from a mass of debris, using an open lane to approach the planet.

Maddox spied a small moon. It was silvery and smooth, almost polished. “It seems artificial.”

“You mean the moon?”

“Yes.”

“Agreed,” Valerie said. “Still, it is in orbit around the planet.”

The Tarrypin reached where Luna would be around Earth. The darter did so at a crawl, no longer moving at interplanetary speeds. It moved slowly, allowing them to avoid every particle of junk and debris.

The darter’s polymer hull was tough. It could take a few microscopic hits. Anything larger would likely wreck them.

As the density of the gases, debris and outright junk orbiting the planet thickened, they made their final lap. The darter slowed yet again.

Maddox grew wary as he studied each passing anomaly. There were many drifting vessels, maybe even former missiles and other things radiating unique energies. Soon, they concentrated on the planetary surface.

“This is my first true reading,” Valerie said. “The sensors are saying the planet’s mass is eighty-seven percent of Earth.”

“We’ll be lighter on it.”

Valerie stared at him with deliberation. “We’re going down, then?”

“Did you ever doubt it?”

“When are we going to do this?”

“First, we’ll make at least one orbital pass. That means we have to get in orbit.”

Valerie went back to monitoring the planet. “Despite its lower mass, the density of the atmosphere is thicker than that of Earth. Sea level density here is like three hundred feet below sea level on Earth.”

An hour passed as they closed. Valerie started to yawn, her jaw creaking once. Finally, she stood. “I wanted to do it. I wanted to stay, but I need to rest.”

“Riker to the bridge,” Maddox said into an intercom.

The captain rose as Valerie staggered out. He went to piloting. When Riker appeared, he sat the weapons board.

Dominic poked his head in and said the engines were running at full efficiency. There were no problems he could detect.”

“How are we doing on power reserves?” Maddox asked.

“A little more than what we’d anticipated at this point in the voyage.”

“Excellent news,” Maddox said.

Dominic left.

Maddox concentrated on cataloging the surface. The majority was ocean with lowlands and low-lying hills, as if wind, rain and maybe battle had been worn everything down for thousands or millions of years. There were heavy metallic readings indicating—vast fields of junk, it turned out.

“The Junkyard Planet,” Maddox muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” asked Riker.

“I’m calling this the Junkyard Planet.”

“That’s apt.”

“I’m so glad you approve, Sergeant.”

“No problem. No problem, Sir,” Riker said, smiling to himself.

Certain valleys spewed radiation, while in the southlands stretched a vast desert with endless heaps of rusted metal. The atmosphere was thick and in places were sensor blocks. Maddox supposed those could be swirling storms. Even so, this was a freakish world were the sensors only worked half the time—if that.

Then the Tarrypin reached low orbit and began its first circuit around the planet. That mandated the crew’s full concentration as the darter dodged debris and concentrations of metal, all while keeping in stealth mode.

The darter was a speck compared to all the orbital junk. Who could possibly find them amongst all this mass?

Maddox likened the debris and junk to seaweed in an ocean.

After an orbital circuit, Maddox debated about where to land. It had taken two months to get here. During that time, they hadn’t seen other ships moving parallel with them. Had the Mastermind sent agents in shuttles or had they used portals as they normally did? They’d seen shuttles at the beginning of the voyage. Why hadn’t they seen them during the trip here?

A thought struck Maddox. Might portals fail in the star system? The fold and jump mechanisms hadn’t worked. Why would a portal?

Maddox shrugged. Portals were Yon Soth technology. Folds were Builder technology. Was the Builder newer and thus less powerful technology? The possibility existed.

Maddox flexed his fingers. Before they started down, it would be good to get everyone’s opinion. He spoke quietly to Riker about the idea.

“Why are we here if we’re not going to go down?” Riker asked.

Maddox silently concurred. He left the bridge to speak with Dominic.

“I just assumed we were going down,” the ensign said.

Maddox clapped the young man on the shoulder before leaving.

Soon, he tapped on Valerie’s hatch.

It opened, and she stood bleary-eyed before him.

“Trouble?” he asked.

“I had bad dreams.” Before he could ask, she said, “I think at all costs we shouldn’t go down to the planet.”

“Really? Is that why we came all this way?”

Valerie rubbed her forehead. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

Maddox silently tested to see if there was the subliminal thought. It hadn’t been on the Tarrypin for days. Was that odd?

“Can you be more specific about your fear?” Maddox asked.

Valerie shook her head. “I’ve had a sleepless few hours. I feel drugged and groggy.”

“Nevertheless, it’s been decided. We’re about to descend to the planet.”

“I thought as much.” Valerie looked at him carefully.

“Yes?”

“I’m trying to memorize your face. Because the bad feeling I had was in regard to your personal safety.”

-26-

Valerie piloted as the Tarrypin moved through the planet’s upper atmosphere. Maddox sat in the commander’s chair, Riker was at the weapons board and Dominic, as always, was in the engine room.

At first, the ride was smooth. Then there were pockets, not wind exactly, but sudden electrical surges and discharges of energy. The Tarrypin would lose power and plunge. It was a sickening feeling. Abruptly, power resumed as if nothing had happened.

Plenty happened on the bridge. Maddox shouted. Valerie yelled back, “I have no idea!”

It made for a shaky, frightening ride.

The darter swerved to miss a concentration of heavy gases. It plunged then, picking up velocity. That caused greater friction against the heat shield.

“Slower, slower,” Maddox shouted. “Go slower.”

“Don’t you think I’m trying,” Valerie shouted as she tapped madly at the helm.

It worked. The darter slowed. Before power quit so the lights flickered on the bridge.

“Commander, what’s happening?”

Valerie cursed, attempting to maneuver.

Abruptly, power resumed. With a shudder, the entire ship creaked and groaned as the anti-grav plates fought the gravity.

Valerie’s fingers flew over the board. She began to anticipate the changes. She veered hard right, hard left, and the length of time without power lessened.

“I’m getting the hang of this,” Valerie shouted. “I’m recognizing airborne nodes that drain our power.”

“How do they cause that?” Maddox shouted.

“I don’t have time to figure it out. I’m trying to keep us in one piece. Should we head up? Maybe we should use probes first until we know what we’re doing?”

For a moment, Maddox considered the idea. This wasn’t how he’d anticipated landing on the planet. If the ship lost power for good—

He clicked an armrest switch. “Dominic.”

“Sir?”

“How are the power levels?”

“There’re dropping precipitously, sir.”

“Damn. Do the best you can. Keep everything intact.”

“I-I will, sir. I-I am.”

Maddox paused. “You’re doing fine, son. It’s just… You’re doing fine.” He clicked off the switch.

You’re acting agitated. Maintain calm. Just because this is a small crew doesn’t mean panic can’t affect them.

Maddox used the Way of the Pilgrim, breathing deeply, calming himself.

Suddenly, the bridge lights flickered and the darter plunged again.

Instead of lurching forward in his chair and barking questions, Maddox sat back and continued to breathe in the Way of the Pilgrim. He engaged his intuitive sense as trained by Balron the Traveler. He sought to know, to feel, to sense what exactly was happening. Was this a natural occurrence, or were they being targeted?

The power came back on, but it didn’t interrupt Maddox’s sense. There was a subliminal presence, but it wasn’t directed at him. His brain didn’t throb and—

Maddox turned his head. He felt the awareness attempting to evade his scrutiny. With calm that had come from the Pilgrim breathing, he felt the awareness…Maddox turned his head again. The subliminal attack was directed at Valerie.

Last mission in the Glenna Nebula, Valerie had been under alien control for a time. Did that make her more susceptible to such…? This wasn’t mind control.

Abruptly, the feeling was gone.

Maddox breathed deeply, attempting to regain the serenity so he could sense the thing that hovered—Maddox frowned. Had the telepathic entity been with them ever since they’d entered the star system?

The thing had vanished, or camouflaged itself better.

Maddox breathed deeply through his nostrils, holding it, maintaining calm. He glanced at the main screen—what the hell?

The darter was much lower than he remembered. He’d d been so absorbed with his calmness—some of it slipped away. He could actually feel it fraying around the edges.

“How soon until impact?” he asked.

Valerie’s head whipped around to stare at him. “Not impact if I can help it. We’re going to land in that swamp. Do you see it?”

Maddox studied the main screen. There was a swampy area with sheets of chromatic-colored water. Did the color indicate oil or other poisons?

There were large herd beasts over there, not as big as elephants but maybe as oxen. The herd moved from the area in which they headed.

On the screen, Maddox spied concentrations of metal. Fortunately, the commander had picked the best area to crash land.

The knowledge helped Maddox relax. This was in Valerie’s hands. Hopefully, she’d gained something from her times with Keith Maker. Did they practice piloting when they were together? Maddox grinned wryly. He didn’t think so. They practiced a different art.

In any case, Riker now muttered.

Maddox turned to him.

“For a moment there,” Riker said, “I thought I saw a small craft tailing us from a distance. I attempted target lock.” He shook his head. “The craft is gone.”

Maddox digested that and resumed watching the main screen.

Under Valerie’s guidance, the Tarrypin maneuvered toward a vast lowland area. The antigravity pods kicked on and three struts appeared on the underbelly of the ship.

Soon, the darter settled gently. The landing pads sank a foot and then another into the muck upon which they’d landed. The ship was at an uneven angle as they came to a rest.

Valerie began flipping switches, shutting off propulsion even as she kept everything ready for an emergency takeoff.

Maddox slapped both armrests. “Sergeant, have you tested the air yet?”

“I have. Seems breathable enough. There are no poisons in great enough concentrations to hurt us. This reminds me of the planet where we you first met Meta.”

Maddox grinned. He remembered the first time he’d seen Meta in her fur bikini. It had seemed like an odd garment to wear. He remembered their first encounter. It hadn’t been peaceful but hostile. Who would have thought he would have married her? What a love she’d turned out to be, and what a wonderful daughter she’d given him.

Maddox thought about Jewel before setting the thought aside.

“Sergeant, you and I will make the first reconnaissance.”

From helm, Valerie looked as if she was going to say something.

“Commander, I want you to look at your eyes in a mirror. They’re haggard and bleary. If you can get some sleep, I wish you’d do so now. If nothing else, bring a mat in here and sleep on the bridge. Have Dominic keep watch.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Valerie said.

“I am right,” Maddox said. “You know it. I want you to take some sleeping pills if you need to.”

“Taking sleeping pills on a planet when we’re all alone six thousand light years from home? I don’t think so, sir. But I will bring a mat in here and close my eyes a few seconds.”

“Good. Sergeant, come with me. We’re going to arm ourselves and visit the Junkyard Planet and see what this place has for us.”

“If you insist,” Riker said.

Maddox stopped to look at his sergeant up and down. “I do insist.”

“I thought you might. All right, let’s get to it then,” Riker said.

-27-

Maddox led the way down a ladder from the hatchway, wearing boots, survival gear, helmet, visor and blaster.

Riker wore similar gear.

At the final rung, Maddox eased a boot onto what seemed like a solid surface. Putting more weight on the boot, it sank several inches into muck.

“Not what I wanted,” Maddox said.

Riker didn’t respond.

Maddox stepped off, using both boots, taking lurching steps. His boots sank to the ankles but that was it.

Riker soon joined him on the muddy plain. The sergeant took out a detection device, and switched it on. With a beep, he began to scan in all directions.

“Anything interesting? Maddox asked.

“There’s a lot interesting. A lot of submerged metal for one thing.”

“See anything biological?”

“Not yet. Well, other than some parasites, a few small insects and the beasts we saw before. Otherwise, I’m not detecting anything large that could attack us.”

Maddox looked through his polarized visor. A kilometer away was solid ground and rocky protrusions. “Let’s head that way.”

“Seems good to me.”

The two trudged across the muddy plain, which had the consistency of dense moss, despite that their feet sank through it. In places, vines snaked across the greenish-brown vista.

The sun or star was small, white and bright: the white dwarf star, like a shimmering sequin. A murky haze drifted around them. Higher up, the thick atmosphere with green and purple tendrils seemed like a floating lake, it was do dense. Interestingly, there were no clouds per se.

Farther away on land was greenery, at least to the left. In the other direction were mounds of rust.

“Check that out,” Maddox said, pointing.

Riker turned the device that way. “Just what it looks like: mountains of rust and metal.”

“Maybe we should head that way.”

“First, let’s get out of the muck.”

Maddox nodded.

They continued to tramp through mud, gaining elevation. Their boots sank less until it was just their soles. Despite that, every twenty steps, they scraped clay from their boots. Finally, though, they reached a smoother harder area. It had tufts of a stubborn grass and orange stems without any flowers or petals.

The stems were like tubes in the ground. It felt as if a colony of people slept down there, sucking air through the tubes. It was a disquieting thought. Maddox found that his shooting hand had dropped onto the butt of his blaster.

This was an uncomfortable planet, not in temperature, though it was humid. He’d been sweating quite heavily.

“Sergeant, I want you to take a salt tablet and drink more water. Don’t succumb to dehydration.”

Riker did as ordered, and Maddox did the same.

They climbed onto a firm plateau of land and could see rounded chunks of metal sticking from the ground.

“Let’s check one of them out,” Maddox said.

They headed in that direction, soon coming to the first piece of metal.

Riker used his device. “High grade steel sir, although it’s been rusted and oxidized for…I don’t know how long.”

“Thousands of years would be my estimation.” Maddox kicked it. Flakes of rusted particles fell from, although the hard core of the metal thing remained.

“Well, ain’t that something,” Riker said.

Maddox squatted by it.

In a moment, Riker did likewise.

They studied the ancient metal. Had it been part of a ship, a tank, a hovercraft or some kind of anti-grav floater? Who knew?

“No higher lifeforms of any sort?” Maddox asked.

Riker manipulated his device, stood and slowly rotated. “I’ve set it to give an alarm if anything shows itself.”

Maddox stood, looking at the vista, this swampy land with its tiny but brilliant sun, with the murky air you could literally see. It was like being underwater.

This air was thicker than on Earth. This air you could cut with a knife.

“I’ve seen enough,” Maddox said. “Let’s get back to the ship. We can decide to reconnoiter a different spot then.”

“Aye-aye sir.”

The two turned back toward the ship, which sat alone in a sea of mud.

Halfway there, a low klaxon began to thrum from Riker’s scanning device.

Maddox whirled around. “What is it?”

Riker grunted, lifted the device higher and adjusted it. “There’s nothing under the mud.” The sergeant faced away from the captain before looking up, perhaps to use the zoom function of his bionic eye. His head jerked back as if in astonishment. “Sir! Flyers! They’re coming for us.”

Maddox looked where Riker pointed. There were five shapes in the air. Behind them came ten others. They had had huge wings and made herky-jerky motions, flapping.

“Holy cow, sir,” Riker said. “They’re humanoid aliens. They’re flapping wings, thrusting their arms and legs within a contraption. They’re wearing some kind of harness or flying suit. Look! Some are gliding toward us.”

“How is that possible? People can’t fly with muscle power alone.”

“Must be the low gravity,” Riker said.

“They’re aliens? Actual beings?”

“That’s right. If ever you’re going to use your blaster, sir, I think now’s the time.”

“Are you certain they’re hostile?”

Riker looked at the captain. “Of course they’re hostile. They’re coming for us, aren’t they?”

“Perhaps it’s a reception committee to welcome us onto the planet.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

Maddox drew his blaster. He hesitated, reached into his jacket and took out a range finder. Putting it to an eye, he took a zoom look. The air seemed to become even thicker.

The aliens were ugly suckers with glistening chitin hides and—one aimed a tube at them. The tube whooshed, a projectile flying from it like a rocket-propelled grenade. The small warhead flew at them. It seemed to move more slowly than it should, even through the thicker air.

Maddox aimed carefully, fired and hit it. The warhead exploded.

“I guess you were right, Sergeant.” Maddox knelt, and mud soaked through the knee of the synthetic fabric. He raised the blaster, steadying his arm with his other hand. He held his breath as he targeted and squeezed the trigger.

The blaster fired and a hole appeared in one of the creatures’ mechanical wings. The air must have distorted his aim.

Horns sounded.

“They’re blowing horns,” Riker said, likely using the zoom function of his bionic eye.

Maddox scowled and waited as the aliens approached through the soupy air. Maddox fired again, this time hitting his target. He shot one and two in the chest. They each plunged earthward.

A barrage of RPGs erupted from the flyers.

“Run!” Maddox shouted.

The captain jumped up, pivoted and slopped through the mud. He yanked his feet up and jammed them back down as he propelled himself toward the Tarrypin.

Riker did likewise.

Under normal circumstances, Maddox could easily outdistance Riker. With the mud clogging their boots, Riker’s bionic leg proved superior. Its strength made a great difference. Riker pulled ahead.

Maddox finally turned at bay. As he did, grenades landed around him, exploding with concussive force. It blew Maddox one way and then the other. More rockets landed.

“Sir?” Riker shouted from where he lay on the mud.

Maddox raised his head. “Run, Sergeant. Get back to the ship. Get Valerie.”

Climbing to his feet, Riker gave the captain an agonized look. Then, he staggered away with his bionic strength.

Maddox tried to rise but it was no good. He slumped back into the mud, watching Riker zigzagging for the darter. At that point, he slumped unconscious on the Junkyard Planet.

-28-

Maddox regained consciousness as alien creatures in crude flying contraptions thudded around him. He tried to sit up and grab his blaster, but he was sluggish from the successive concussive explosions by the grenades that had detonated near him.

Had the creatures targeted him instead of Riker who’d been farther away?

One approached after it shed his flying suit. That proved to be a harness of metal struts, joints, leather and expansive wings. By the rapid movement of legs and arms, the humanoid creature could create enough updraft in the thick atmosphere to fly. How quaint. How novel.

The creature stood as high as Maddox’s shoulder, if he’d been standing. The being wasn’t skinny but also wasn’t bulky. It was a mix of leather and chitin with an odd face with insectile pincers on either side of its mouth. The pincers clacked. It walked on two feet, had two arms and fingers of a sort, although not as many as a man. In place of fingernails, it had shiny claws. It wore…emblems and a cloth pouch across its midsection. Maddox had no idea if it were male or female or if the term had any validity. Its “feet” sank in the mud, indicating it was heavier than it appeared, perhaps built more densely than Maddox.

The creature squatted beside him and spoke rapidly in an insectile chatter.

“I don’t understand you,” Maddox said.

The creature’s head jerked, and the two eyes, multifaceted like a fly’s, opened wider.

It was disconcerting staring at the alien.

The rest of its group landed. They began to set up some a machine, maybe a weapon. Each of them had carried one part of it.

They assembled it quickly, aiming it at the Tarrypin.

Maddox couldn’t see Riker. He couldn’t see Valerie. He couldn’t see much of anything really. He knew Valerie could use the 20-millimeter guns, killing the primitive aliens and rescuing him, if she could get the ship in the air.

Three of the creatures approached. Two grasped Maddox, hoisting him with ease, indicating their strength. They bound his arms with a tough fibrous vine.

The one that had originally spoken to him spoke again.

“Sorry. I don’t understand you.”

A different one with a purple torque around its nearly nonexistent neck stepped forward. It produced a strange hand-sized machine that clicked and whirred.

The creature placed two disks on Maddox’s forehead.

The captain expected intense agony to start when the alien turned on the machine. There came a jolt and a vibration through his brain, and it was painful. Maddox groaned even as the other aliens held him fast.

After a length of time, the alien with the purple torque shut off the machine. He took the two disks from Maddox’s forehead as if peeling bandages from his skin.

Maddox blinked. He felt a blur and heaviness on his mind. He heard the alien speak again with its odd clicks. Surprised, Maddox realized he understood what the alien said.

“We are the Garmez. Who are you? Why do you look like the soft skins in the valley?”

“I, I.” Maddox realized he used their form of communication even though his throat wasn’t suited for it. With a little practice, he managed, “I’m Captain Maddox of Star Watch. I come as a friend.”

The creatures around him hooted with laughter even as they finished completing their offensive weapon.

The Tarrypin roared with sound as it began to rise from the muddy field.

Maddox was glad. “What’s your intent toward my vessel?”

“It is yours?” the purple-colored Garmez said.

“Yes.”

Three of them stepped back and spoke rapidly among themselves.

The one with the purple torque stepped up to Maddox. “I am Shongez. I represent these here. Will you trade us your vessel for your person?”

“Shongez?” asked Maddox. “Is that what you said? Shongez.”

“Do you have a problem with my name?”

Maddox considered that, and his institutive sense told him… “That isn’t your true name. It’s a false name.”

There was a murmur of surprise among the aliens.

Meanwhile, the Tarrypin retracted its landing struts and began to rotate. The forward part aimed at the alien creatures, the Garmez.

Perhaps Valerie would have successfully rescued the captain, but the Garmez shouted in alarm. The one who’d given a false name hissed. Three Garmez swiveled the quickly built weapon and fired several missiles.

The missiles didn’t aim at the Tarrypin, but flew to the left of the ship.

Seven vehicles—they looked like air cycles—had appeared in the sky, flying down toward the Tarrypin.

Three Garmez missiles hit three different air cycles. The vehicles and their riders blew apart, flesh, blood and metal pieces raining upon the ground.

Before Valerie could target the Garmez, harsh rays shot from the remaining air cycles. The rays struck the Tarrypin.

For Maddox, everything froze and he didn’t know why. It was as if a moment of time held for several seconds. As he froze, the Tarrypin rose fast, heading for the heavens.

What in the hell, Maddox thought to himself. Valerie is abandoning me.

He noticed that the 20-millimeter gun no longer looked functional. Yet, how could the rays have achieved such a result so quickly? It didn’t make sense.

Maddox wondered whether he was hallucinating. Maybe something in the air affecting his thinking.

The Garmez chittered and squealed. They aimed their heavy weapon on its swivel mount and fired rockets at the air cycles.

Those dodged, so the missile blasts did them no damage.

The air cycles must have been concentrated on the Tarrypin earlier and not seen the Garmez.

The air-cycle survivors revved, swerved in the air and flew toward the Garmez.

The Garmez produced bone knives and other assorted weaponry. They screamed a challenge at the air-cyclists.

The cycles dropped lower. Men in suits rode them. They drew machine pistols, firing rat-a-tat-tat, cutting down the Garmez, killing them one after the other so they fell around the heavy weapon. Black gore oozed from the creatures as they might have from crushed grasshoppers on Earth.

The few remaining Garmez ran to and attempted to don their sky harnesses. One after the other they leapt into the air and madly cranked and flapped at their wings. Perhaps they wished to close with the air-cyclists.

The handful of air-riders slammed fresh magazines into their machine pistols, and then fired, obliterating the last Garmez.

The slain creatures fell out of the sky, riddled with bullets.

The air cyclists landed beside Maddox.

One tore off his helmet. He wasn’t a man, but an Ardazirho, a wolf alien who worked no doubt for the Mastermind.

The aliens barked laughter as they jumped off their cycles. Would they make him a prisoner? Would they take him to the Mastermind?

Maddox looked up. He could no longer see the Tarrypin. At least Valerie, Riker and Dominic had escaped.

Now, however, for the second time, Maddox was a captive on the Junkyard Planet.

-29-

Valerie felt sick at heart as the Tarrypin accelerated to reach escape velocity. According to Riker, Maddox was still on the planet. This was a disaster.

On the screen, the air cycles dropped far below as the darter climbed fast. She quit yelling at Riker to activate the 20-millimeter guns. They continued to be unresponsive.

Had the cyclists deactivated or destroyed the guns?

Riker sat at weapons, silently grim as he tried to get the controls to work. “I never should have left him. I never should have left.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Valerie said. “How would it have helped if you were both killed or captured?”

“Damn! I can’t believe this.”

Valerie glanced over her shoulder. Riker stared at his controls, at the weapons screen. “What is it now?”

He looked up. “I have a fix on an air cyclist. He’s a wolf, an Ardazirho.”

“What? They’re already on the planet? No. This is worse than I thought.”

Riker started punching controls again. “I ought to be able to get one of these working.” He suddenly snarled with frustration, hitting the panel, and looked at her. “We need to land. I’ll go out with a blaster.”

“Don’t you understand? The—Ardazirhos you say?”

“There’s no doubt. I saw a wolf alien.”

Valerie nodded. “The Ardazirhos have better electronic warfare equipment than we do. It’s either that or the dampening effect of the planet have reached down and screwed with our guns.”

“It can’t be the general dampening,” Riker said, “or it would have struck their air cycles and our motive power.”

“Maybe. Or maybe they have tech components that resist the effects of this place better than ours. Maybe the Tarrypin’s engines are better than the guns.”

“Uh-oh,” Riker said, as he hunched over the weapons screen, staring.

“What is it now?”

“Look up. Are those orbital shuttles coming down?”

Valerie manipulated her controls. On the helm screen, she saw three dots. They were high, possibly decelerating from orbit as Riker suggested. If the Ardazirhos had indeed piloted the air cycles, could they be in communication with the shuttles? Had the entire enemy team gotten here ahead of them? She frowned. Did the Ardazirhos know they were coming to the planet?

“Come on, Tarrypin,” Valerie crooned as she tried to coax more velocity from the darter. She maneuvered away from the descending craft.

For the next minute, she watched the… Yes! They were shuttlecraft. These three had stubby wings and weapons ports.

“They’re attempting to get a sensor lock on us,” Riker said.

“Wait to employ the countermeasures.”

“What countermeasures? We’re sitting ducks.”

“Sergeant, as Captain Maddox would say, Please don’t overexcite yourself. You must remain calm.”

Riker grunted as he worked his board.

The comm beeped. For a moment, Valerie hoped Maddox would talk to them. Instead, it was Dominic.

“I can give you a little more thrust. One intercooler was blocked, for no reason I can see. Now it’s back online.”

“Good,” Valerie said. “Excellent work, Ensign.”

She concentrated as the shuttles screamed down. The Tarrypin climbed, having gained some serious altitude. The surrounding air began to thin so it no longer looked like they were underwater. Then klaxons wailed as the enemy gained sensor lock on the Tarrypin.

“Countermeasures, use some countermeasures,” Valerie shouted, having already forgotten her own advice to remain calm.

Riker stabbed several buttons. The klaxon shut off. “At least that works.”

Valerie strained at helm. If they could get into orbit, into space, she was sure she could outrace the shuttles. If she couldn’t do that, she could employ the stealth field and lose them in the orbital debris and junk.

Valerie swallowed hard as she thought about Maddox. If he were dead, then what? No. Don’t think that. He can’t be dead. Not after all this time. Hope for the best. Think positively. That’s what the captain would do.

Missiles launched from the shuttles, heading down at the Tarrypin.

“Do we have any flares?” Valerie shouted.

“I can’t get them to work,” Riker said. “But I have got a gun working.”

“Can you knock down the missiles with it?”

“We’re going to find out.”

As Valerie once more maneuvered away from the shuttles and began violent evasion, she heard Riker mutter, curse and then whoop with delight.

“Got one!” he shouted.

Muffled explosions sounded from outside the darter.

Valerie scowled. Were the enemy’s weapons also malfunctioning in the anti-tech atmosphere?

The lights quit. The engine died abruptly and there came a great jerk. Had a warhead struck them? Valerie waited for the bulkheads to explode, hurling metal everywhere. Instead, the lights and engine came back online. The darter accelerated again.

With a shout, Valerie aimed up. “Don’t we have a missile? It’s an antimatter missile, right?”

“Fire an antimatter missile at them at this close proximity?” Riker asked. “Are you mad?”

“Launch it. Launch it, Sergeant. That’s an order.”

Riker grumbled and slapped the controls. A few seconds later, he said, “It’s launched and it’s accelerating. We’re all dead, I guess.”

“Not if I can help it,” Valerie said.

She kicked in every ounce of power the Tarrypin possessed, accelerating at maximum power. The muscles in her face stiffened as she willed the darter to move even faster.

“The missile is almost to them.” Riker hunkered low.

A horrible blast flashed on Valerie’s screen. The antimatter warhead had detonated. Thank God.

“There’s a shockwave coming in fast,” Riker said.

“I know.”

The shockwave struck, overwhelming the darter’s antigravity pods. The entire ship shook. Lights flashed. Yet, instead of disintegrating into dust, the darter rode the shockwave like a crazy surfer the wildest wave that had ever existed. The Tarrypin sped faster. Then it lost coherence, tumbling end over end. Fortunately, Riker and Valerie were both strapped in. Valerie hoped Dominic was as well.

The antigravity pods strained, whined and smoked. The stench of them filled the cabin.

“Dominic, report,” Valerie said through the intercom. There was nothing. Valerie glanced back. “Better go check on him, Riker.”

With the antigravity pods working again, even though they were smoking, the Tarrypin no longer tumbled. It was a miracle.

“Aye,” Riker said. He detached his restraints and rushed off the bridge.

The smell of smoke increased, an electrical burnt smell, but the darter had motive power.

Valerie decided to use it and shot upward. The three shuttles were gone. Was that revenge for the captain’s death? If he were not dead, would the Ardazirhos make him pay for what she’d done? These were useless thoughts, she decided.

The atmosphere around them turned darker as they left the thick atmospheric murk.

The intercom came online. “Dominic’s unconscious and bleeding,” Riker said. “The good news is that he’s breathing strongly. I put out the fire in here.”

“Good work, Sergeant.”

He didn’t say anything more.

“Is something else wrong?” Valerie asked.

“What you just said sounded exactly like what Maddox would say,” Riker told her, sounding crestfallen.

“Don’t you worry, Sergeant. Maddox is alive. We’ll find him. We’re going to find him.”

“Sure we will,” Riker said, not sounding convinced.

Soon, they entered the stratosphere and climbed to the next level.

The comm light began to blink. Valerie stared at it. With a feeling of trepidation, she slapped it. The piloting screen split and a face appeared on one half. It showed an exceptionally pretty woman with curls.

“You are Valerie Noonan,” the woman said in the Standard English of the Commonwealth.

“Who are you?” Valerie asked.

The woman smiled, which increased her beauty. “You may call me Iris.”

“Should I know you?”

“We were in the Crowder System together.”

“Oh. Oh! Did you work for Methuselah Woman Lisa Meyers?”

“That is correct.”

“You want revenge for her death.”

“Lisa Meyers is dead?”

“That’s right,” Valerie said, deciding to stick with the truth.

“So be it,” Iris said. “I have another employer.”

Valerie blinked several times. “You mean…”

“Yes, I speak of your foe, the one who is going to defeat you and gain all that he desires. I will make sure of that.”

“Are we talking about the same personage?”

Iris smiled. “You want me to name him. Yes, I will name him. You know him as the Mastermind. Once I was sent to destroy his ability to use the portals. Now, I serve him.” The gleam of love blazed in Iris’s orbs.

Valerie caught it, and it sickened her. Wasn’t the Mastermind like the Hormagaunt or the Yon Soths? Surely, he was some vile alien entity. How could the woman love such an alien? Valerie shook her head. It didn’t matter.

“Where’s the captain?” Iris asked.

“You know where he is. Your men took him.”

“Indeed, indeed,” Iris said. “This is good news. How do I know it is the truth?”

“Aren’t you in communication with your people?”

“This is interesting,” Iris said. “When did you arrive to Kregen?”

“To what?” asked Valerie.

“Kregen is the name of this ancient planet. You don’t even know that, do you? You can’t have been here long.” Iris shrugged. “It matters not. If Maddox is captured, he’s beyond your help. I suggest you leave while you may.”

“Leave. I’m not leaving without the captain.”

“That is a foolish attitude. You’re completely outclassed and easily outmaneuvered.”

“Really?” asked Valerie. “I just destroyed three of your shuttles. How’s that for outclassed?”

Iris frowned. “You shouldn’t have said that.”

“Why not?”

A uniformed Ardazirho appeared behind Iris. The wolf-headed alien growled unpronounceable words at her.

Iris stood, turned, pushed him out of view and sat back down. “I’m giving you a chance to leave, Commander Noonan. Take it. If you do not, if you do not tell me you’re taking it, we will hunt you down and eliminate you.”

“You ain’t hunting squat,” Valerie said. “We defeated you once and we’ll defeat you again.

“You poor deluded girl,” Iris said in a mocking tone. “You understand nothing about what is really taking place. Very well, you’ve sealed your doom. I’ll tell the pack leader he may attack at will.” Iris paused. “Or will you leave?”

“You know I won’t,” Valerie said. “I don’t know why you’re trying to get me to say I will. Do you have some hidden reason for trying to convince me to leave, rather than simply destroying us?”

Iris nodded curtly. “You have signed your death warrant.”

The connection cut and Riker reentered the small bridge. “Did I hear correctly?” he asked as he sat at the weapons board.

“Hang on,” Valerie said, “it seems as if our foes, the Ardazirhos, are already here in number. They’ve got at least one human helping them, a former agent for Lisa Meyers.”

“Did she say her name was Iris?”

“Is that important?”

“It might be. Iris used to be a lab assistant for Professor Ludendorff. There was another one called Clarice. She died. I heard it from Maddox. Clarice used the portals, Iris used the portals and our captain used the portals back then.”

“Her appearing here is an interesting development,” Valerie said. “I don’t know what to make of it.”

“You should have told her what she wanted to hear. Maddox would have done that.”

“I’m not Maddox,” Valerie said. “Now shut up for a while. I need to concentrate.”

Valerie did just that, using the main sensors. In the distance, in orbit, were several darter-sized ships that could have possibly launched the shuttles. She counted five.

“Just give me a few more minutes,” Valerie said.

The five ships were too far from the Tarrypin. In the end, Valerie won the race as they reached orbital space.

The Tarrypin slid into a vast cloud of orbital gas with chunks of drifting debris. It started a cat-and-mouse game between the five hunting Ardazirho vessels and the Tarrypin.

Whatever else happened, Valerie was determined to rescue the captain at the earliest possible opportunity. The key, she knew, would be in finding him again. She hoped Maddox didn’t travel far from the contact point with the strange planet. Otherwise, finding him again might be impossible.

-30-

Captain Maddox rode on the back of one of the air cycles. He didn’t clutch the Ardazirho’s waist, but held onto the back of his seat as the ground swept below him. During the early part of the ride, there’d been a distant and ominous explosion. Could it have been a small antimatter warhead? He hoped that hadn’t meant the Tarrypin’s destruction.

The air cycles were nifty vehicles and the Ardazirhos natural riders. They rode like gifted outlaws, zooming to an encampment between three landed shuttles. Each of the shuttles was smaller than the Tarrypin. Could the Ardazirhos have traveled through the star system in those?

Tall electronic poles surrounded the three shuttles and a camp of Ardazirhos. On the perimeter were several tripod-mounted laser guns. Two Ardazirhos manned each. Maddox spied a large folding table full of detection gear with an Ardazirho operator wearing earphones seated in concentration.

The air cycles landed beside a similar number of them. As the wolves jumped off, the commander barked orders.

The others turned on Maddox, aiming their machine pistols at him. The biggest, using his pistol’s muzzle, prodded him toward the center of camp.

There was a wooden building three times the size of an outhouse. Maybe that’s what it was. Surely, though, the Ardazirhos would have facilities for such matters aboard the shuttles.

The camp teemed with Ardazirhos, with hanging lamps from poles providing increasing illumination, as it was starting to get dark.

There was a soft sound. Maddox looked around. Beyond the perimeter shimmered—a force screen, he supposed. He looked up. The force screen formed a dome over the encampment.

Maddox nodded. Impressive.

With the thought came a wave of depression. He looked at the wolves. Had the Mastermind given them a starship able to sail through the null system? Surely, the Mastermind possessed far superior technology to those of Star Watch.

Maddox shook his head. How could—?

“No,” he whispered. He refused to let despair rule his thoughts. He’d act positively and assumed he could change the situation as he had many times before. He’d outsmarted the Ardazirhos on more than one occasion, and they’d possessed superior tech then. He could defeat them again.

Maddox took several calming breaths. It was time to watch and listen, awaiting his opportunity.

He noticed an Ardazirho heading toward him. The creature wore a slick uniform with a military hat and ceremonial sidearms. He strode confidently, even though each Ardazirho walked with a hunch.

A pack of air-cyclists followed the obvious officer. In moments, they circled Maddox as the officer stopped before him.

The officer was shorter than Maddox, although he was taller than his fellows were. He cleared his throat, opened and closed his wolf-like jaws and spoke in the language of the Commonwealth.

That shocked Maddox, even though he was grateful they could communicate.

“I know you,” the officer growled. “By the description and your stance, and that you’re here, I assume you’re Captain Maddox of Starship Victory.”

Maddox saw no reason to dissemble. He nodded curtly.

“Yes,” the officer said. “I’m the Ground Expedition Pack Leader, Horx Dan, and I’ve captured the famous Captain Maddox. You will remain with us until we begin home. You’ll be my personal present to the Mastermind. I imagine he’ll be delighted to interrogate you at length regarding certain matters.”

“You work for him then?” Maddox asked.

“Silence!” the officer said. “I’m asking the questions. You are not asking the questions. You are the prisoner and you will answer me. You will not interrogate me. Is that clear?”

Maddox blinked as he absorbed the little tirade. “Yes, Ground Expedition Pack Leader.”

That seemed to mollify the Ardazirho. “In this instance, Pack Leader will do.”

Maddox indicated the shuttles, laser guns and force field that encircled the camp. “That’s an impressive display. I take it then you’ll be taking me aboard your starship in short order.”

“Ha,” Horx Dan said. “Our starship is far from here. It is not in orbit. It—” He glowered at Maddox. “Are you trying to trick me?”

“No. I was merely marveling at your situation. It is far superior from what we were able to manage.”

“That is at it should be. We serve the Mastermind. You are a mere primitive from a spiral arm far from the center. Ha, it is a wonder that the Mastermind considers you a dangerous foe.” Suddenly Horx Dan seemed to get nervous, glancing sideways at his fellows. “Yet, yet, of course you must be…”

Maddox wondered if Horx Dan had just made a faux pas and if others might report him for saying something appearing to question the Mastermind’s judgment.

Maddox glanced at the other Ardazirhos, but they seemed both attentive to the Pack Leader, and to him—in case he should attempt to escape. They would then all lunge and attack, bearing him to the ground, no doubt.

“Sit, Maddox,” Horx Dan said.

Maddox sat.

The others sat around him, including Horx Dan, who so did so athletically. They each sat with his legs crossed.

Horx Dan leaned forward. With a furry, clawed hand, he patted Maddox on a knee. “So far, you appear to be a reasonable prisoner. That is wise of you. I’ve heard that you’re an ingenious fellow. In fact, we were all told to beware of your cleverness, your sleights-of-hand and lies. They say you’re a notorious liar.”

“No,” Maddox said. “I assure you that’s an exaggeration.”

Horx Dan lifted his muzzle skyward and howled as if with delight. “Yes, yes, that is what a clever liar would say.”

One of the other Ardazirhos spoke rapidly in a tongue Maddox couldn’t comprehend. Horx Dan grew serious as he stared at Maddox.

“You were with the Garmez, the disgusting insectile humanoids. Have you made a pact with them? Had you prearranged to meet with them, to go together into the deep desert and search for the relic?”

The information startled Maddox, although he kept his features bland as he shrugged.

“Oh no, oh no,” Horx Dan said. “That will not do. You’re going to tell me everything you know.”

“Everything?” asked Maddox.

“That is what I said. Did I not say it?” he asked the others.

They all nodded emphatically.

Maddox frowned, although he smoothed that away. Their manner… Were the Ardazirhos a little simple? What was going on here or was this a ploy meant to lull him?

Maddox glanced right and left. The Ardazirhos were all intent upon him. The entire pack couldn’t fake such stupidity. This wasn’t a ploy then.

On the other hand, perhaps he was using the wrong measures to gauge their intelligence. They were aliens. They were not humans. Therefore, what seemed like simpleminded behavior could be something else. Maddox decided he’d withhold judgment regarding their intellect.

“Well…” said Horx Dan, shrugging. “I’ve spoken of the deep southern desert and I’ve spoken of…it.”

“Do you mean the relic?”

“I do mean it, but we will not mention it.”

“Don’t mention the relic?” asked Maddox.

Horx Dan scowled. “Do not tempt me to give you a beating.”

“You wish to beat me because I speak of the—”

Horx Dan growled a warning.

“I see, “Maddox said. He was going with his original judgment after all. For unknown reasons, these Ardazirhos had become simpleminded. Only the simpleminded asked leading questions that gave away more information than they got, and allowed the answerer to provide better lies. It was time to use that.

Horx Dan cleared his throat. “Tell me. Were you meeting with the Garmez at a prearranged site?”

“Yes.”

“I knew it.” Horx Dan glanced at the others.

They nodded, grinning to each other.

“How did you gain their cooperation?” Horx Dan asked.

“I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to give you such information,” Maddox said. “I will add that I find it sad that none of you understand the motivation of the Garmez. They’re a high-minded people and partially telepathic.”

The last was a guess on Maddox’s part, but it seemed obvious. Was that his intuition telling him or the subliminal nudge he’d felt before?

“Is that how you did it?” asked Horx Dan. “Do you have a telepath among you?”

Maddox stared at him.

Horx Dan laughed, nodding. “You must have a telepath in your employ. He spoke with the Garmez. Tell me, is that true?”

“It’s true,” Maddox said, hanging his head as he said it.

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Horx Dan said. “How did you learn of the Garmez?”

“Uh…”

“We’ve been monitoring your approach to the planet. We didn’t see any other Commonwealth vessels. Have you hired Scroungers? Is that what’s going on?”

“The Scroungers, you say,” Maddox said, continuing to bolster their preconceptions. “You know about them?”

“Of course we know. We know all about the star system and I, as the Ground Expedition Pack Leader, know more than most. The Scroungers slip into the star system—” Horx Dan shook his head.  “You already know that.”

“Yes,” Maddox said, “I do.”

Horx Dan frowned. “If you know, give me their planet of origin.”

“I would, but we haven’t been able to determine it yet.”

“Nor we,” Horx Dan said shortly, “but we will. The Scroungers will not resist our attempts to capture them or be able to guard themselves for long. We’ve arrived in strength, you see. You understand that this is but one camp of many and that we have come in many shuttlecrafts. Yes, that is how we bypass the restriction. After the destruction of C.I. Chulik—”

“So it didn’t simply malfunction,” Maddox said, guessing, “but ruptured.”

“Ruptured, you say. You know very well that it imploded upon entering this bizarre star system. The Mastermind warned our leaders of anti-energies at work here. But losing an entire starship…” Horx Dan shook his head, ceasing abruptly. “Did you lose one as well?”

“Two,” Maddox said. “We lost two starships.”

“That means we were superior to you.”

“I’m afraid it does mean that,” Maddox said. “That also shows why I’m the captive and you’re the warden.”

Horx Dan laughed gleefully, nodding. “It indeed shows why this is so. We will not fail. We have the superior master, the Mastermind as you call him. He has a different name in reality.”

“We’ve heard this to be true.”

“Well…that doesn’t matter,” Horx Dan said. “You’re my prisoner and you’ll continue to answer my questions and tell me what you know about this star system.”

Maddox nodded. “We know the Scroungers are here and slink onto the planet.”

“Ha, ha, they slink onto the planet. You mean they scour the planet like the Scroungers they are, taking items of long heritage. Do you know why?”

“To sell them in regular space,” Maddox said, guessing.

“That’s it exactly. How did you know, though?”

“I thought you’d ask that,” Maddox said. “A person told us who has already been to the star system. That, by the way, is how we knew to bring a telepath against the Garmez.”

“Against them? I thought the Garmez were working with you.”

Maddox shook his head ruefully. “I just attempted to lie to you. But I see that you’re cleverer than I am.”

“Ha, yes,” Horx Dan said. “I’m much too clever for the likes of you.” He pointed at his men, speaking to them.

They howled as Horx Dan slapped his chest in obvious pride.

Maddox was more confused than ever. Were the Ardazirhos retarded? What caused this diminishment of intelligence? Could the planet through the dampening of neural impulses in the brain do this? Was that why the Mastermind had send agents instead of coming himself?

Could that happen to Maddox himself?

The Mastermind wanted a relic that could add to the Supreme Intelligence’s capacities. Did that make sense? A thing, a relic here where dampeners dampened normal intelligence—could it be home to a complex computing machine or machine entity?

Maddox wondered at his swift train of thought. In the wonderment, he detected at the very edge of his consciousness—the alien glimmer fled even as he sought it.

That was interesting and annoying. He couldn’t tell if this supposed subliminal entity was friend or foe. He’d believed it a foe—and yet now, he wondered. Perhaps it was a neutral party, using who it could for its own purposes.

“The Garmez,” Horx Dan was saying. “They’re a strange hive race. I wonder what the aliens were like who used them as shock troops in that strange war that took place here thousands of years ago.”

Maddox blinked yet again in astonishment. Here was more data. “Uh, shock troops, yes. That is what I’ve learned about the Garmez as well.”

“Indeed,” Horx Dan said. “You knew they were shock troops?”

“Yes, as they’re not indigenous to the planet.”

“True, true, and yet they act as if they own it because they’ve lived here for…twelve thousand years is the estimate according to our intelligence experts.”

“Ah, we had thought it thirteen thousand years, but twelve thousand makes more sense, especially from what I’ve seen.”

“Aha, so then twelve thousand is the correct age of the Garmez infiltration upon the planet.”

“I thought thirteen but now realize it has to be nearer twelve thousand,” Maddox said. “Your confirmation is critical.”

“I’ve confirmed nothing,” Horx Dan said. “You told me. Is that not so?”

“Ah…” Maddox said.

A klaxon saved him from answering further. Immediately, two trumpets blasted loudly.

Incredibly, the force shield powered down and the lamps flickered off, casting the camp into darkness.

Ardazirhos jumped up. Some lit torches and others started a fire.

Meanwhile, Maddox noticed high in the sky a red glimmering object like a low satellite. He noted that it had just turned red.

Horx Dan saw the direction of his gaze. “You know about it, I see. It’s one of the supreme dampeners of the planet.”

“It’s caused us endless trouble,” Maddox said.

“Go ahead, try your blaster now.”

Maddox drew the blaster from his holster and aimed it at a generator. He pressed the firing stud. Nothing happened.

“It is useless as long as the dampening red star shines.”

“Huh,” Maddox said.

“Give it to him,” Horx Dan said.

Maddox handed the blaster to an Ardazirho.

Horx Dan spoke in the alien tongue. The guard who accepted the blaster lowered his head as if abashed.

Watching the interplay, realizing Horx Dan likely reprimanded the other for allowing him to keep the blaster all this time, Maddox wondered if he was less intelligent and perceptive than normal. How could one test that?

Maddox rubbed his jaw. He saw evidence of stupidity all around him. How did he know if he was acting stupidly? The truth was he likely couldn’t tell. Therefore, he was going to assume that given his greater spiritual energy from the Erill long ago gave him greater resistance to the dampening power of the planet.

One thing was certain: the wolves hadn’t noticed the monofilament blade hidden in his boot.

“Well, well, well,” Horx Dan said. “It’s getting late. With the rise of the red star, we’ll finish the interrogation later. Have no doubt, Captain Maddox, you’ll tell us everything you know about the indigenous people of this planet and the scum humans that live upon it like hoodlums and rats that scurry here and there.”

“You know about the humans, eh?” Maddox asked. “I’m astounded at that.”

“Why should you be astounded? We serve the Mastermind. He knows all and he has told us what we need to know. But I want to know more about these scum humans. They are smaller than you. Why are they here? Why have they lived on this planet for so many centuries?”

“We don’t know. It’s a mystery.”

“Then tell me about the giant indigenous people creatures.”

“Again, I know nothing about them.”

“You’re lying. You’re a liar. You’ve been so well informed about everything else. Now, you claim not to know this. Ha, ha,” Horx Dan laughed and tapped his cranium. “I’m smarter than that, Maddox. I’ll discover all that you know when morning comes. We have a device to extract such data. The woman will oversee the extraction of this data from your mind. Do you know which woman I speak of?”

Maddox took a stab. “I supposed you refer to Iris.”

“Aha, you do know. Yes, you’re very knowledgeable. Very knowledgeable. We shall discover all that you know, and then we shall find it in the deep southern desert. We shall take it off planet and return home with it. We shall take it aboard the C.I. Scorpio. We in the crew will all reap prestige for having completed a most difficult mission.”

With that, the interview ended. Several Ardazirhos took Maddox to the wooden building like an outhouse, putting him within and barring the door. They left him for Iris and the mind-extraction machine come the morning.

Maddox figured he needed a getaway plan before that.

-31-

Despite his precarious captivity and the prospect of having a mind machine rip into his memories, Maddox realized he’d fallen asleep when he awoke with a jerk.

He sat up. He’d lain on a mat like a dog or Ardazirho.

From outside came hisses, screams and shouts of pain. Had Horx Dan regained his intelligence or had Iris come down? Were they setting up some scenario to see how he’d react?

Sitting in the dark stockade, listening, Maddox didn’t think that was the case. Trusting his senses, he withdrew his monofilament blade and wielded it carefully.

The blade’s edge was a one-molecule-thick chain that could cut anything. He pressed the edge against the wood. The blade slid through easily. He cut a head-sized opening, pushing out the block of wood, and peered into a bizarre scene.

Torches flickered, a campfire roared and dead Ardazirhos lay on the ground bleeding. A Garmez wearing huge but probably fragile wings twisted on the ground, pumping black gore from a torn belly.

Maddox craned to look up, spying other Garmez gliding down from the sky silently like bats. Upon thudding onto the ground, many Garmez shed their wings. They gave hissing cries as they drew swords or readied hand catapults.

The Ardazirhos fought back desperately with knives, energy guns that wouldn’t work or bare fists and slashing fangs.

The Garmez swarmed the camp, as the main force screen no longer worked. What did work? Maddox nodded to himself. He realized the wisdom of having knives, swords and hatchets on a dampening planet.

Using the monofilament blade, he cut a larger opening at the bottom edge of the stockade, pushing out the chunk of wood. He crawled into the camp, standing warily with his back to the stockade.

Packs of Ardazirhos rushed knots of Garmez. Others raced to the parked air cycles while others still ran for the shuttles.

Some Garmez rushed into a shuttle. There were clangs, yells and hisses.

Maddox could well imagine it. The Garmez with their chitin-tough skin and primitive weapons no doubt hacked and tore apart the less well armored and armed Ardazirhos.

Despite everything, two shuttles energized, their running lights flickering on. Both used their anti-grav repellers, lifting into the air.

On one, a blaster worked. The harsh ray burned Garmez hanging onto the rails. They fell hissing and smoking to the ground, spurting black gore that pumped from their ruined bodies.

The two shuttles turned and headed upward, no doubt for orbital space. They gained altitude until one abruptly exploded in an impressive display.

Had Garmez used some kind of energetics, or had the shuttle systems simply overloaded and exploded?

The last shuttle continued upward, swiftly dwindling from sight.

Maddox didn’t give himself great odds of surviving the Garmez. They were winning, and he couldn’t see anything that might aid the wolves.

He pushed off the stockade and sprinted with the monofilament blade in his gun hand. As he ran, Maddox scooped up a fallen hand catapult. It had elastic cords. He drew them until they latched on a hook. Then he slapped a bolt into the groove.

Hand catapult, crossbow, call it what you will, Maddox ran through the camp with it ready.

An Ardazirho whirled at him, raising a rifle like a bashing club. Maddox fired, sending the bolt into the wolf’s chest. The creature whimpered, staggered to the side, and then corrected and lunged at the man. Maddox hacked with the monofilament blade, carving the creature’s face. Without a sound, the creature flopped out of the way.

Maddox sprinted, ducking under a swishing Garmez sword and dodging bolts that hissed far too near his head.

Gaining speed, Maddox hurled himself at an Ardazirho astride a purring air cycle. He bowled the creature over, landed on top and cut his throat. Maddox jumped back as blood jetted from the ruined skin.

He climbed aboard the air cycle, clutching the handlebars, examining the controls. A quick glance showed him the red star had set. He revved the air cycle, depressed a foot pedal and rose into the air.

Charging Garmez hissed, alerting him.

Maddox accelerated into the night, climbing. A few Ardazirhos did likewise on other air cycles.

Maddox veered away from them so he didn’t remain with the pack. He headed north in the direction he believed the Tarrypin had first landed.

As Maddox gained altitude, he wondered what would happen if dampening power shorted his engine. Hastily Maddox lowered the cycle until he flew a mere twenty feet above the soggy ground.

Taking stock, he discovered the air cycle had a comm. He switched it on, trying various channels.

“Valerie, Valerie, can you hear me?  Come in. Can you hear me?”

There was static, nothing but—wait a sec. On this channel, he believed he heard a voice. He strained to listen.

“Valerie, Valerie. Is that you? Can you hear me? Come in, come in. This is Captain Maddox.”

“Maddox,” a woman said, but she didn’t sound like Valerie. “How did you get an air cycle?”

Was this Iris? He’d met her before on the fourth planet of the Omicron 9 System. She’d once been Professor Ludendorff’s assistant, one of two.

Maddox remembered Clarice, how she’d died. He’d given her a benediction on a lonely spaceship.

The garbled static became louder.

Maddox looked around, spying a valley on the edge of the horizon. He thought to see the glow of the red star.

Abruptly, the air-cycle’s engine quit. Maddox plummeted. With an oath, he balanced on the struts and flung himself in the opposite direction it traveled. He was falling, the ground rushing up toward him. He hit and rolled, trying to shed the excess momentum so that it wouldn’t break any bones.

He flipped and flopped over muddy ground, shedding more force. Then he lay there, stunned in the dark, panting. His muscles ached as he groaned and sat up.

In the darkness, as the red star sank below the horizon, he gingerly tested his bones, ligaments and joints. Finally, he stood, realizing he was relatively uninjured.

He could breathe. He had his monofilament blade, garments, but no comm or blaster. He had precious else but for his life.

He snorted. What was the correct course of action?

With a shrug, Maddox headed north. He looked up at the sky. The stars were murky, difficult to see except for the brightest. He felt again as if he was underwater. The sky was more like a sea with its swirling dense air.

He trudged and his feet sank, although not as deeply as they had when he first landed on the planet. Still, the trek drained his strength.

He was alone on a planet six thousand light years at least from Earth. He’d lost his only contact to his friends. Valerie, if she’d survived, was at best in orbit around the planet with Riker and Dominic.

Had Riker made it to the darter? He dearly hoped so. He hated the thought of the sergeant dying on some alien planet so far from home.

No, no, buck up, Maddox told himself. You’re not going to give in to depression. You’re going to continue as hard as you can. You’re the di-far. In you resides the ability to change the course of human history.

That worked for a time. The mud, though, severely sapped his strength.

Listen. If you don’t succeed, you’ll never see Jewel again. You’ll never lie with Meta again. Your daughter will grow up without her father.

Bitter determination swelled in the captain’s breast. He was going to defeat all odds. He was going to make it home again and he was going to stop the Mastermind from finding this relic. He would do that because the alien creature had dared send agents into Star Watch. It had dared to attack his friends and his Uncle, Golden Ural. Besides, the Supreme Intelligence was an alien ally of Star Watch, perhaps one of the most important.

Maddox’s pep talk to himself was cut short as he heard a strange sound…like giant owls gliding through the night.

His head jerked up. It was dark but for a few stars. Several stars disappeared and reappeared.

Maddox squinted, concentrating. At least five Garmez flyers with their huge wings soared through the dark night.

Maddox heard hissing sounds.

Did the Garmez see him?

Maddox crouched low. He didn’t take out the monofilament blade. Instead, he felt around for a rock or stone. All he needed was one or two.

Hadn’t David slain Goliath with a stone? Whirled from a sling, true enough.

Maddox’s hand came away muddy. There were no stones, no rocks in this field, this vast plain of mud.

He sensed the Garmez had seen him. They were coming in for the kill.

Maddox tensed his body, straining to see in the darkness. He heard a snap and then another. He dove left, rolled, and then dove in the other direction. In the mud, he heard wet, smacking sounds.

He crawled back that way. There were darts sunken in the ground.

Thuds sounded.

Maddox rose up as three Garmez flyers shed their giant wings. They began to draw weapons.

Maddox charged, the sound of his boots sucking mud the only noise. He drew his monofilament blade.

One of the Garmez cleared a giant sword, hacking.

Maddox ducked and lunged, plunging the monofilament blade into the Garmez’s chest. He slashed it open and rolled free even as black gunk splattered upon him.

In a furious few moments, Maddox slew the other two.

Two yet soared in the night sky. He could hear the creak of the joints as they no doubt pulled and thrust with their legs and arms flapping the giant wings. Would they give him away? Would they tell others where he was once they reached their encampment?

Maddox found a hand catapult, loaded it and aimed into the night. He could see the creature for a moment, maybe thirty feet high.  Maddox pulled the trigger. The bolt caused a hiss of pain. Maddox didn’t worry about that one anymore.

He concentrated on the last. Even as he pulled the elastic cord back into firing position and fitted another bolt, the last one swooped down from fifty feet, gaining speed as he sped away.

Maddox fired anyway, listening. He heard nothing. Then he heard the frantic movement of the joints as the creature again, no doubt, attempted to increase altitude by using the wings to flap.

In the darkness, Maddox slumped onto his butt. Mud soaked through his pants as he waited. He jumped up as a last Garmez charged him, the one he’d wounded before.

In a swift battle, Maddox killed it as well. The creature had moved sluggishly. He found a bolt embedded in him after he dispatched the creature.

Maddox sat down again. What was the correct course of action? He’d survived several encounters on the alien planet. He’d learned the name and nature of an enemy, Iris—a confederate of Lisa Meyers.

Maddox sighed. He was alone, all alone. He shook his head. He wasn’t going to dwell on that.

He stood. He had sets of wings, if that made any difference. Could he use the contraptions?

Maddox knew a little bit about aerial dynamics. Night flying would always be harder because the ground cooled at night. During the day, the sun heated the ground so air rose, making flying easier. At least, that was how it worked on Earth.

He’d wait for morning.

He was too tired to try now and he couldn’t see in the dark. Could the Garmez?

He gathered his meager belongings, trying to keep dry. What would the morning bring? Perhaps it would bring Valerie. Perhaps it would bring Iris and the other Ardazirhos or perhaps it would bring a flock of Garmez flyers.

For now, he was free and had acquired information about the strange plant. He needed food, water and allies. He desperately needed allies.

Maddox took several of the wings, laid them out and lay on them. They’d keep him dry. Then, even as several of the brightest stars twinkled in the murk above, Maddox fell into a fitful sleep, hoping tomorrow would bring something better.

-32-

The tiny shimmering sun, looking like a sequin in the sky, appeared above the horizon. Maddox shivered awake in the morning mist. Despite the glaring dot of a sun, the sky was as murky as ever.

Getting up, rubbing his arms, he examined the dead Garmez. With their chitin exoskeletons and mouth pincers, he found them ugly and daunting. The hardened black goo from their wounds stank.

Maddox dragged one set of wings away from the creatures. He then gathered the best hand catapult and many bolts. There were graphics upon each, perhaps the symbol of that particular warrior. The bolt head was formed from chiseled stone. Each had small feathers in back.

He tested several hand catapults, choosing the best and picking the best bolts. He practiced until he gained greater proficiency. His life might depend on it.

Finally, he studied the giant membrane wings. The harness was constructed of metal struts and joints, combined with wood and leather. The wings themselves appeared to be woven fibrous plants. A Garmez wore the harness and fit his arms and legs into it. Motion—pulling and pushing with arms and legs—moved the wings. It was ingenious and crazy.

He returned to the dead Garmez, moving one, discovering it was heavier than he was. It was humanoid, if having a thicker chest than a man would.

Maddox realized he intended to fly in the thick underwater-like atmosphere. The lighter gravity of the planet would aid him in that. Besides, what better way to get an estimate of what lay around him if he could soar high enough?

Would it be dangerous?

Maddox considered. Flying itself might prove dangerous. Were there more Garmez flyers about? So, what was the alternative? He could slog through the mud until a flyer spotted him, a flyer with membrane wings or an air cycle.

How would he fare in the air against the Garmez? They’d be better flyers due to endless practice. He’d be lighter and possibly stronger, certainly stronger pound for pound. Did that mean he could fly better once he got the knack of it?

The proof would be in the attempt.

He was thirsty and hungry, cold and damp. Still, according to Horx Dan, there were humans on the planet. Survival likely meant he had to find them.

Maddox tramped back to the flying suit and began to strap it on. The chest was loose and the shoulders too tight. He made adjustments, cutting a restraint and re-knotting it.

Soon, he was ready, and raised the wings by raising his arms.

A gust of wind buffeted him. He staggered backward. Setting himself, holding his ground, he heard the wings and struts creak and rustle.

With an oath, he launched up with a vigorous jump. At the same time, he began to pull and push his arms and legs, causing the great membrane wings to flap after a fashion. It didn’t help. Wind drove him face first at the wet ground. Only a last maneuver saved him from landing on his head and maybe snapping his neck. He thudded against his chest, the air nearly knocked out of him.

Shakily, Maddox climbed back to his feet. This was harder than it looked. He raised the wings—another gust tried to hurl him backward.

He crouched, pulled the wings inward and told himself he could do this.

A half-minute later, Maddox believed he understood the properties better. This was like an old-style airplane, a matter of aerodynamics.

He turned into the wind, raised the wings and leapt once more. He flapped the wings by pulling and pushing his arms and legs.

This time, the wind filled the wings, pushing him higher. He laughed, delighted, and he worked the struts, struggling to gain more height. He was starting to get the hang of this. He maneuvered so the wind caught and lifted him instead of driving him down.

Maddox continued to flap even as the wind died down. He climbed through sheer effort, probably because he was lighter in ratio to the wings compared to a Garmez. The suit gave him greater lift.

Soon his limbs began to burn with fatigue. He attempted to glide and immediately lost height. This was no good. He needed greater height. Once more, Maddox pulled and pushed his arms and legs as if doing a dog crawl through water.

He climbed again as his sight extended as he rose over the nearby hills.

Smoke spiraled in the distance. He spied Garmez or people walking over there. A horn sounded, then several horns.

Garmez had blown horns last night.

Soon, humanoid flyers climbed into the sky, three of them. Those were Garmez all right. They’d obviously seen him and now gave chase.

Through trial, error and effort, Maddox turned away from them. Would it be better to land and fight on the ground? If he landed, more might fly and land, giving them a greater excess of numbers. If he fought from the air—they had superior knowledge and skill in aerial contests.

He needed help. Allies. If he remained alone, the Garmez would surely capture him. To find allies—I have to remain airborne in order to spot them.

Decision made, Maddox cranked the mechanisms, flapping the great wings, gaining height. He looked back. The three were already gaining on him.

That made sense. They knew secrets and understood the winds better than he did.

Maddox shook his head. He was here. He was going to have to play this to the end. Therefore, he began to experiment and test.

Tiring fast, panting from hard flying, he looked back again. The three hadn’t gained on him this time, although he hadn’t pulled away.

It’s a race. I have to beat them but beat them to where? I need a destination.

If he went in any direction—climb, climb, Maddox told himself. You need information. Without information, you have no choices. It’s just sheer luck and happenstance then. Use logic.

He continued to crank the wings. Even though his muscles burned, he climbed. To aid himself, he decided to enjoy the experience.

I’m flying. I’m flying, man. This is unbelievable.

He was in a death race and was far from home, and he might never see his family again—concentrate on the situation. Don’t let yourself be defeated before it happens.

Maddox nodded, and he forced a laugh. Despite that, he soon panted as sweat leapt upon his skin and dripped from him. The sweat fell far, as he’d attained an amazing altitude.

An updraft caught him. He ceased flapping, holding the wings rigid, soaring higher yet. He laughed with genuine glee, looking left, right, behind and before him.

What was that? He looked harder. In the distance ahead he saw a sluggish river with multicolored hues.

He continued in that direction on the assumption that whoever lived in the general area needed water to survive.

He looked back, spying five Garmez flyers. The original three had gained on him. The other two climbed to reach the same height.

He looked back again, watching them. They didn’t head directly at him. No. They seemed to catch thermals, updrafts of air that caused them to climb rapidly, if farther from him.

That’s what I need to do.

He didn’t know the tricks, but he studied the Garmez, finding pointers. Ah. The flat bare terrain reflected the dwarf star’s heat better than other types.

He now sought such spots. Suddenly, an updraft propelled him higher. He twisted his wings, catching the thermal better than earlier. He soared upward in a spiral.

This was god-like. Who had flown in history? There was a Greek myth, Icarus? He couldn’t remember the other name. One had been a prisoner. Both had been prisoners of King Minos of ancient Crete. According to the myth, the father had made two sets of wings, one for him and the other for his son. They tried to fly to Italy. The father had told his son, “Don’t fly too close to the sun.”

In his exuberance, the son hadn’t heeded that. The sun’s heat had therefore melted the wax that held the feathers in place. The son had fallen to his death. The father survived, the son died.

Let me be like the father, Maddox thought to himself.

This reminded him of when he’d learned to surf in Kauai, how exhilarating it has been to let Mother Nature propel him. This was like that. Instead of waves, he rode thermals and used the dense air. What an idea. What a life. What would it be like to soar day in and day out and to hunt prey from above?

He envied the Garmez. Did they even understand how beautiful a life they lived on this crazy planet? Maddox believed they did not.

Horns blew behind him. He craned his neck but couldn’t see anything. He looked up. Three Garmez had climbed above him and now descended quickly toward him.

I can’t let them capture me. He didn’t think he’d win an aerial duel, not three against one. What was the choice then?

Far out in the distance near a bend in the river, Maddox strained to see through the murky air. Did smoke rise over there? Wait. Was that a reflection of sunlight? Whatever it was, whatever was out there was a place to go. He hoped it was something good for him.

Maddox flapped as hard as he could, turned and glided down steeply. He didn’t know if he was gliding too fast as he sledded through the air, whooping with delight as he headed toward the spiral of—

Yes, yes, it was smoke. There was an encampment over there.

Behind him, bugles sounded once more. The Garmez gave cry, letting him know he was the prey and they the hunters.

Damn them!

He wanted to shoot them out of the air. He no longer had his blaster, as the Ardazirhos had taken it. Would it have worked, though? Most likely, it would have. He still had his knife and the hand catapult.

Dive, dive. He did, looking back.

The Garmez dove after him, catching up. Did their heavier weight give them greater speed as they sledded down the currents of air?

Maddox began to flap madly. That interrupted with his steep glide. He quit pumping his arms and legs, holding the glide.

The horns blew, closer than before.

Maddox gritted his teeth. In the distance was smoke and—mounts. The aliens, possibly humans, rode big horse-like creatures. There were also wagons. What were they doing?

Maddox laughed.

They were launching kites, with one holding onto each. What in the world was this? Maddox wasn’t sure, but one thing he knew. He was going to beat the Garmez to this encampment or die trying.

-33-

Maddox aimed steeper yet, zooming down like a striking peregrine falcon.

The Garmez flyers blew their horns. There was a different note to their call.

Maddox felt a telepathic message reverberate in his brain. Do not go to them. You will die there. Come to us. You are our prize.

That’s right, hadn’t Horx Dan said the Garmez were telepathic after a fashion? Obviously, the flyers were speaking to him, calling him.

Interestingly, the instant the bugles quit, the telepathic connection ceased. The horns obviously aided or maybe even achieved the telepathic linkage.

Maddox didn’t heed their plea. It wasn’t a hypnotic call like the sirens had used against Odysseus in the Greek myth, the time his crew had plugged their ears with beeswax. This was a pitiful attempt. Why would the humans at the river automatically kill him anyway?

Maddox headed for them, keeping his glide angle steep.

Several kites reached the end of their rope. A young boy rode upon each huge kite. The lads used telescopes, studied him and the Garmez. One of the lads began to use flags, maneuvering them in various positions.

Clearly, the boy was communicating to those below.

Maddox saw a grounded man with a spyglass aimed at the kite. Even as the man looked and shouted, others moved great spindles by handles. They began to reel the kites and kite-riders back down to the wagons.

At the same time, a different wagon trundled forward, pushed by a dozen men. Someone pulled back a tarp, revealing a strange cannon with technological devices attached to it.

Even from up here, Maddox heard it hum as lights flashed. It didn’t look like a laser cannon.

Maddox looked back. He was astonished to see the Garmez turning away.

Of course, the weapon down there was aerial defense against Garmez flyers, any type of flyers perhaps.

The cannon discharged. A blast or knot of sand hurtled toward the Garmez.

Maddox craned his head.

The sand didn’t reach the flyers. Perhaps it was a warning shot.

Maddox glided toward the encampment even as he changed the angle of his descent, making it shallower.

They didn’t seem to be aiming that thing at him. Instead, several men lifted spyglasses, watching him. Others ran forward. They carried spears and hand catapults. There were two important-looking men wearing red robes. They wore complex leather hats with wooden emblems. Those two walked serenely. Each had several assistants fluffing their robes and carrying paraphernalia.

The last was a younger lad wearing a broad-brimmed hat. He had an extra-long rapier strapped at his side. On his back was a hand catapult. He walked proudly.

Other men hurried to him. They were attired similarly, although their garments were not as fine as his, nor did they bear themselves with the same dignity.

Maddox began to flap again in order to smooth his landing. He smiled proudly as he rotated and thrust his hips forward, landing feet first. Once steady, he folded the wings so they no longer caught buffets of air.

Down finally, he unhooked the buckles, shedding the flying harness almost as if he removed a cape. He raised his hands and bowed at the waist, performing a gaudy gesture with his hand.

Straightening, he said, “I’m Captain Maddox of Star Watch. I’m glad to make your acquaintance.”

The two red-gowned men stepped forward. They rattled off in an odd language.

Startled, Maddox realized he understood them. Could the Garmez’s machine from earlier have taught him the language? That was a great boon if so. Or was there something else at work?

The two spoke in a singsong way, “Who are you that you have the form of a man?”

Maddox concentrated. Why did they both speak at the same time in unison? He replied, not in a singsong way, but in their speech. “I’m Captain Maddox of Star Watch. I recently came to the planet Kregen. I’m glad to make your acquaintance.” Afterward, he bowed, sweeping his right hand as if he was a grandee.

The two muttered between themselves, making passes through the air with their hands. One barked an order. He also grabbed a flask from an apprentice. He removed the stopper and cast the contents into the air as he chanted.

Was that a ward against him? Were the two magicians? Yes. Maddox decided those two were magicians or priests.

“Why did the Garmez chase you?” the two asked in their singsong way.

Before Maddox could answer, the tall man with the outrageous rapier stepped forward.

He was taller than the others, but shorter than Maddox.

The man spoke in a barking, commanding voice. “I’m the hetman. I’ll ask the questions. Magistrates, step back. This is a matter for me.”

The two red-robed men glanced at him, bowed their heads, made complex gestures and shuffled backward.

The hetman turned to Maddox, pointing at the fallen harness. “Why do you wear a Garmez’s wings? Why did you fly through the air like them?”

“In order to escape them,” Maddox said.

“Where did you learn to fly like them? Are you part Garmez?”

“Not in the slightest,” Maddox said.

Now that Maddox took more time to inspect them, he noticed the people had an olive tint to their skin. They were smaller than most Earth humans, too. In fact, they reminded him with their fine-boned faces of Spacers, many of whom were originally Southeast Asian in origin. Could Spacers have arrived way out here and landed on this planet? Maddox deemed that likely as he looked at them.

“Why do you stare at us with such discourtesy?” the hetman asked.

“Not discourtesy,” Maddox said, “in wonderment. Are you perhaps originally Spacers?”

The hetman scowled.

The two magicians glanced in wonder at each other, their thin, wispy beards adding to the Southeast Asian origin.

“Why did you flee to us?” the hetman asked. “Do you think we’ll help because you have a similar shape as us?”

“Yes,” Maddox said. “I’m a fellow human in distress. Clearly, you’re human. The Garmez surely are the enemies of all.”

“True enough,” the hetman said. “Still, what is it that you desire from us?”

“Drink, food and rest,” Maddox said. “Later, to find out more about you.”

“For what reason?” the hetman asked.

The armed men behind the hetman muttered, perhaps not liking Maddox’s words.

“I’ve come from above,” Maddox said.

“Do you mean space?” the hetman asked.

“Exactly, space.”

“Do you mean within the last month?”

“Within the last few days.”

The hetman glanced at the magicians before regarding Maddox again. “What about the wolf-like aliens? Do you have congress with them?”

“Not in the slightest,” Maddox said. “They’re my enemies.” He winced inwardly after saying that, hoping he hadn’t made a mistake by saying so. Could these people be allied with the Ardazirhos?

The hetman turned away, motioning to one of the other nobles or warriors.

That one stepped up.

The hetman and noble conferred together. The magicians moved closer, too, speaking to the hetman while casting sly glances at Maddox.

Looking around, Maddox eyed a woman. She shrank back behind her men.

Maddox studied the encampment. There were wagons, tents and mounted beasts. They didn’t really look like horses, but giant kangaroos. Several wore saddles. The tails were shorter than a kangaroos and the necks longer.

How long had humans been on Kregen? Were they descended from Spacers? The possibility fascinated Maddox.

During his wide-ranging travels, he’d come upon Spacers more than once. They seemed to be the most widely traveled of all humans from the Commonwealth.

In the past few years, the last Spacers had left Human Space. Maddox wondered where their main fleets were concentrated, and if the Spacers knew about Kregen. Clearly, they must have once known, or at least this group must have.

“What do you call yourselves?” Maddox asked.

The hetman whirled around as his hand dropped upon the hilt of his long rapier. He glanced at the two magicians.

“He seeks to curse us,” the two magicians sang in unison.

“Nonsense,” Maddox said. “I wish to know whom I address, nothing more. I told you my name.”

“Do not tell him, hetman. We beg thee.”

“No,” the hetman said. “I won’t say.”

“I see,” Maddox said.

“Hetman,” the two magicians sang, “we’ve spoken together and cast lots.”

Maddox wondered when they’d done that. He hadn’t seen them cast anything.

“He is ill favored,” they sang, “an enemy of the Garmez. He may bring trouble upon us. We must sacrifice him to the red star so his bad luck may be taken from us and no harm befalls our tribe.”

“What do you say to that?” the hetman asked Maddox.

“They’re wrong. I don’t bring any ill luck. I bring you good luck.”

“By a war against the Garmez?” the hetman asked.

“Surely you trade and meet with others? Is there a greater authority than yourself who I can speak to, to whom I can tell the events in the wider galaxy?”

The hetman stroked his chin, studying Maddox. “You wish to escape sacrifice to the red star?”

“Naturally.”

“You appear to be a warrior, is that not so?”

Maddox made a depreciative gesture.

“A warrior,” the hetman said, turning to the warriors behind him.

They nodded and grinned.

“A warrior,” the hetman told the two magicians.

They muttered darkly, glancing at each other. In the end, they both nodded to the hetman. “A warrior as you say, hetman.”

“He must be a champion,” the hetman said. “Who other than a champion could take the wings of a Garmez and escape from them? Yes, you will make the perfect foe to face the Urukush.”

“Excuse me?” Maddox asked.

“Do not resist,” the hetman said as he strode toward Maddox. The other warriors followed close behind. “You will face the Urukush. If you defeat him, I’ll take you to the higher authority, as you say. If you do not defeat the Urukush—” The hetman laughed. “Then it won’t matter, will it?”

With that, Maddox fell in among them as they marched deeper into the camp.

-34-

The nobles, those with belted rapiers like the hetman, hustled Maddox across beaten ground, heading toward a parked area with wagons. Behind trailed the magicians, women and children. What Maddox found interesting was how silently they marched to wherever they were going.

“Pray tell, what is an Urukush?” asked Maddox.

The hetman glanced at Maddox. “You must be from off world if you don’t know what an Urukush is. Are you a Scrounger?”

“No.”

“You don’t look like a Scrounger. Are you one of their servants perhaps?”

Maddox shook his head.

The hetman sniffed loudly, marching faster.

They all hurried in order to keep up. The nobles in particular jangled: the sound came from their rapiers, emblems and necklaces.

“I’m to defeat this Urukush, you say. What weapon will you give me?”

“Ha,” the hetman said, “You’ll have to use whatever weapon comes to hand. That is the nature of such a battle. The Urukush will fight only with what it has. We must be fair and give you no advantage. Do you not agree?”

“In theory,” Maddox said.

“Enough. You will not talk your way free of this. No more speaking.” The hetman turned a sharp glance at the others.

They surrounded Maddox. Two put their hands upon him as if to silence him.

Maddox towered above the short warriors. None came even as high as his shoulders. They were like children to him: vicious, dangerous children to be sure.

Could they be Spacers or was that imagination on his part? How long ago would they have come here? How long ago would it have been possible for Spacers to come here?

As they headed for the wagons, Maddox considered the idea.

What did they know of Spacers? Many of them were of Southeast Asian origin, not all certainly. Did that mean Spacers originated from Earth before the Space Age? Certainly, Builders had visited Earth before that. The Methuselah Men were a product of the visits. Could Builders or a different alien species have landed long ago and taken proto-Southeast Asians into space, maybe as an addition to their crews?

Maddox had found evidence of Spacers far beyond any other human group. Was there a reason for that?

The people here—was it mere happenstance that they had an olive tinge to their skin? Did their short stature and Spacer facial features mean anything significant?

Maddox lost interest in the question as he saw the Urukush.

There was a lone wagon, a huge affair, with six giant wheels. In the back stood a tall cage with stout wooden bars. A monstrous bipedal alien stood inside the cage. It was massive, like some great non-hairy ape. It stood seven feet tall, although it was difficult to be precise as it stood on the bed of the wagon inside the cage. The creature glowered at them. It wrapped huge leathery black hands around the bars. It had a massive spread of shoulders and small bowed legs, at least small in comparison to the rest of its long, leathery torso.

Maddox reassessed as he came closer and smelled the creature’s reek. It wasn’t quite a primeval ape. Maybe more a cross between a crocodilian monster with leathery skin and strange musky odor and yet with the spread of shoulders and long dangling arms such as an ape possessed. It didn’t have the hand-like feet of an ape, but something sheathed in leathery moccasins. The head seemed too small given its size. It was a puny head, a pinhead. Yet, intelligence glittered within bloodshot eyes. It lacked complete nostril, but had skin flaps. As its lips drew back, it revealed pointed teeth. This was a carnivore.

Maddox shuddered. How could he possibly defeat the monster? It’s huge. Maybe it’s slow.

“You want me to fight that?”

The hetman turned with a leer. “Yes, yes, that is the Urukush. We’ve bartered and had to pay much for it. We wish to bring it… Well, it doesn’t matter where we’re going to bring it. You don’t need to know. You’re not of our clan, our tribe. You’re not one of the nomads, as some call us.”

“Nomads,” Maddox said. That would lend credence to the idea they were like Spacers, as Spacers were nomads.

The Urukush threw back its head, opened its mouth and emitted a frightful roar. It rattled the thick bars.

“Is it intelligent?” Maddox asked.

“Yes, yes,” the hetman said, “intelligent. They’re a dreaded foe to both the Garmez and us. All are wary of them, especially in the deep desert of the south.”

Maddox perked up at that. The deep southern desert—isn’t that where the Ardazirhos, where Horx Dan said the relic resided?

The creature erupted with another savage roar. Its muscles bunched as it strained at the wooden bars. The fingers clutched with great pressure.

The magicians chanted loudly as they wove their hands and threw glittering dust into the air. “That will restrain the Urukush,” the magicians said in a singsong voice.

The hetman looked dubious, but he nodded and turned back even as the creature strove and thrashed against the wooden bars.

Then, with a grinding roar, the Urukush ripped several of the bars free. It gave a great bellow of glee. The massive seven-foot creature must weigh a ton, at least. It hurled its bulk at the bars. They shattered. The creature tumbled through and flipped over the wagon to slam onto the ground. As it did, the Urukush kept hold of several wooden bars.

Women and children screamed, turned and fled.

The two magicians ran forward. They grabbed potions from their belts, perhaps thinking to use them.

The nobles and hetman shrank back from the freed monster.

The Urukush raised its head, looking at them with bleary, bloodshot eyes. It looked back at the wagon, at its broken prison. Then, it leapt to its feet, roaring. It glanced at its hands. Each clutched lengths of wooden bars. It charged the magicians, sweeping a wooden bar in each hand.

With tremendous thuds and slams, it smashed and caved in the head of each magician. Their bodies lay crumped on the ground.

Bedlam reigned as people screamed. The Urukush raised its huge leathery muscular arms, screaming with triumph. It charged like a steam engine gone berserk, heading at the cluster of nobles and the hetman.

Maddox stood frozen in disbelief. The Urukush was an engine of destruction. Which of the creatures on the planet could face a tribe of Urukushs?

The beast waded among the warriors. They drew rapiers, although some hung back. Two rushed forward. It didn’t matter. The Urukush swung its staves, breaking skin and staving ribs. The two warriors died.

The hetman gave a shrill cry and drew his rapier. It had a whippy end. What a feeble weapon with which to face a maddened alien creature. The hetman took a stance. “You shall not leave my encampment alive, brute.”

Did the Urukush understand the words? Its eyes blazed redly, and it hurled a wooden bar. The hetman ducked with nimble speed. The bar flew over him.

Maddox realized he’d die, too. Surely, the berserk creature would chase everyone down, killing the women and children, destroying everything. He was here. It was his fate. He might as well—Maddox found himself running at the creature. He scooped up a fallen rapier and raced at the great beast.

“Flank it from the other side,” Maddox shouted at the hetman.

The lithe young hetman did exactly that.

The Urukush glanced at Maddox and the hetman in front. It roared as if with laughter.

The Urukush hurled another bar, which swept across the ground like a boomerang. The hetman timed it just right, leaping over it. No, he didn’t time it right. One part caught the side of a boot. It flipped him, causing him to sprawl hard onto the ground, his long and expensive rapier tumbling from his hands.

Maddox charged the monster.

It snatched the whippy end of the rapier from Maddox, ripping the weapon free with pathetic ease.

The speed of the incredible beast sickened Maddox. He closed within striking range. Repelled by the musk, shaking, Maddox drew his monofilament blade.

The massive creature slapped him openhanded, perhaps an alien bitch slap.

Maddox intercepted that with the monofilament blade. Black leathery flesh sliced free.

The creature gave a croak of despair, pulling its ruined hand back, staring at the blood pumping from it.

Maddox didn’t wait. He leapt in and stabbed with the monofilament blade. He punched into the chest and slashed down, leaping away as the creature swung its arms in one direction and the other. The sound of the black arms told of a near miss. Maddox backpedaled faster, the gory monofilament blade in his right hand.

The creature clapped its ruined chest as blood poured from it in jets and globs. It bellowed in a stricken voice. It took one step, two, three… It swayed from one side to the next.

Maddox didn’t cheer. He didn’t run. He waited in a knife fighter’s stance.

The creature crashed to its knees and bellowed with a sad forlorn sound. It looked at its bloody hand and toppled forward. It hit the dirt with a smack. It didn’t move afterward. Was it dead?

The hetman stared at Maddox. “You slew it. You slew the Urukush.”

Maddox straightened, and he lowered the monofilament blade so it was at his side.

“You slew it with a knife,” the hetman said.

Maddox nodded.

“You saved my life.” The hetman turned, looking at the dead nobles and magicians. He groaned aloud, “This is a disaster.”

Maddox circled the dead Urukush. “It’s not a disaster. You have your tribe. It has survived.”

“The magicians are dead. We need their guidance to make decisions. We need their guidance to know which direction to go.”

“Can’t you get new magicians?” Maddox asked.

“Yes, at the gathering of the south.”

“Until then, you’re in charge,” Maddox said. “Are you sure you need them?”

The hetman eyed Maddox. “The Great Visionary must hear of your deed. I must beg her to grant us magicians so we may stay an independent tribe and continue to work. Come Maddox, you will help me. You’re my friend. I’ll see that you’re repaid for your courage and for saving my life.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Maddox was also curious that the hetman said “Great Visionary.” He’d met Spacer visionaries before. Was this yet another clue pointing to the tribesmen on the planet being Spacers who’d landed here long ago?

Maddox found that he was trembling from combat exhaustion. The nervous tension drained from him.

“Come, my friend, we must see to our tribe. Tonight, I’ll initiate you as my blood brother. Then we shall begin the trek, for it is not good for any of us to be without magicians.”

“No,” Maddox said, “I suppose not.”

-35-

Above the planet, Iris paced in the stateroom of the main shuttle that had made the journey from the C.I. Scorpio.

Iris was concerned. Yes, that was the right word. Concerned. The small vessel from Victory had escaped into the orbital debris. Even now, it hid in the mass of gas and drifting junk.

She’d sent several hunters to destroy it, but knew that might prove impossible with their limited resources.

Iris shuddered once again, remembering how they’d lost half the expedition with the destruction of Starship C.I. Chulik. The Chulik had entered the strange star system. Unknown forces had almost immediately gripped the starship, causing it to implode, killing everyone aboard.

They knew from that point not to take the C.I Scorpio into the system. Through an accident, they’d discovered smaller ships like shuttles could survive in the system. Why that was so, they hadn’t yet surmised.

Days after the accident, an armada of shuttles had left the Scorpio. Two months later, the armada reached Kregen, the second planet.

Iris had listened to Horx Dan’s report as he’d left the surface in an orbital lifter to the shuttles here.

There were seven shuttles in an orbital pattern. Seven precious vessels each twice the size of a Star Watch shuttle.

Iris had a complement of Ardazirhos to aid in her task. But there was a problem. When any of the crew descended to the planetary surface and left the shuttle, staying for over an hour, their mental capabilities swiftly deteriorated.

Iris had determined this was caused by dampening energies on the planet. Well, the dampening energies were everywhere in the system, but the shuttle hulls protected the crews while they were in orbit.

So far, Iris hadn’t gone down to the surface. She didn’t dare. Otherwise, she’d become as stupid as the retarded wolves.

She still couldn’t believe it. Horx Dan had let Maddox escape. The fool, the damned fool.

Iris fumed. She wanted to give the Mastermind his precious relic, and Captain Maddox to boot. She was sure the Mastermind would appreciate the renowned captain.

There was more to it than just the Mastermind’s affirmation. Iris had worked for the Spacers of Third Fleet as a spy. She’d penetrated Ludendorff’s department on the fourth planet of Omicron 9. Thus, she knew how much the Spacers of Third Fleet hated Captain Maddox. Any one of them would dearly like to get their hands on him.

Iris turned, facing a mirror, observing her curly-haired beauty. A frown marred the loveliness.

I no longer work for the Third Fleet. I love the Mastermind. I serve him. He brings me such joy and completeness, such pleasure.

Running her hands down her supple hips, Iris concentrated on the task. She needed to employ her training and outthink Maddox. She needed to outthink those who hid from her in the pathetic delta-winged spaceship.

How…?

Iris shook her head. It didn’t matter how they’d gotten away. They had, and she needed to capture or destroy them.

Sitting, crossing her legs, folding her arms and closing her eyes, Iris practiced her meditations.

She then activated some of the unique mechanisms within her body. She had several sensitivities, two energies and a projection. One of the sensitivities allowed her to use more of her mind than most. Another granted her a semi-telepathic ability. That helped tell her when someone lied, even an Ardazirho.

Horx Dan considered himself a clever commander. He was the Ground Expedition Pack Leader and yet he’d become a fool.

Iris frowned. She had to figure out how to nullify the dampening energies, the ones that retarded neural brain pathways, causing malfunctions.

Until she solved the problem, she was a prisoner up here, having to use the moronic Ardazirhos to implement her plans.

Meditating, she resolved to use whatever means necessary to find the relic, lift it off planet and cross the dampened star system to the waiting C.I. Scorpio. Afterward, she’d return to the center of the galaxy and give it to her…

Iris paused. Was the Mastermind truly her lover? Did she give him joy the way he gave her joy? No. Giving him the relic, however, was possibly the best way to show him her love. He would gain joy from her by receiving this gift. It would be as if they had physical union.

Iris contemplated the Mastermind’s joy, enjoying a sense of fulfillment from it.

A half hour later, a chime sounded.

Iris blinked several times and hurriedly climbed to her feet. She rubbed her face, steeling herself. It was time to plunge back into reality. That wasn’t as lovely as imagining the Mastermind’s joy. But, it was necessary if she hoped to succeed.

Washed, combed and in a sharp new uniform, Horx Dan entered the stateroom Iris used as her command center.

She was alone with the Ardazirho. Not that she needed any protection against such as Horx Dan. He might think himself a dangerous soldier, fast and cunning, many times stronger than she. It wouldn’t matter. With a thought, she could paralyze him. She could do it by stopping all neural impulses in his brain. Then she could walk around him and slit his throat at her leisure. She didn’t even need to do that. She could cause a brain aneurysm with a thought.

I’m in charge. I don’t need to truckle to their canine customs.

However, arrogance was a danger. Her trainers in the Spacer Third Fleet had taught her that. She’d also seen how arrogance had brought Professor Ludendorff low.

She snorted to herself. Ludendorff was the supreme egotist.

“Iris,” Horx Dan said, “I’m here. Do you see me?”

Her eyes flashed as she looked at him. The Ardazirho stood arrogantly with his feet wide, shoulders squared and head thrown back.

Look! He’d disobeyed her orders. He wore a sidearm. Did he believe a gun in his possession could threaten her?

Iris debated upon a punishment. Instead of imposing one, she motioned to a table, a round one. She indicated that he sit first. That was to show that he was the underling, she the master.

Horx Dan sat reluctantly. Afterward, he folded his furry hands on the table, staring at her arrogantly.

“Must I remind you who’s in charge of the mission?” Iris asked as she took a seat across from him.

“The Mastermind put you in charge.”

“I see. You understand. Do you also understand the danger of disobeying my orders?”

“I’ve disobeyed none.”

“You’ve wore a sidearm in my presence.”

“Bah! We always go armed. That is the Ardazirho way. We’re always ready for danger. We don’t disarm ourselves as—”

His muzzle froze mid-word.

Iris had raised a hand and made a gesture. She hadn’t needed to do that to cause his neurons and other bodily functions to freeze. She’d done it with a thought. The gesture was something her trainers had long ago drilled into her. In these things, showmanship was important. Stupid and superstitious people fell even harder for showmanship.

For all their sophistication, the Ardazirhos were a superstitious race. Iris hadn’t believed that at first, but she knew now that they were a lower-level species. They were hunters who somehow had acquired intelligence. Likely, the Mastermind had elevated them through applied genetic manipulation. In reality, they were primitives, given over to superstition just as dogs would be if they gained intelligence like a human.

Iris lowered her hand. As she did, she granted Horx Dan partial speech.

He choked and gasped, wheezing for air. There was terror in his eyes.

Iris snapped her fingers, releasing him.

Horx Dan collapsed upon the table. He whined like a dog. He was a dog compared to her.

“Horx Dan,” she said, “do you know who is in charge?”

“You are,” he said in a choked voice.

“Good. Now you will tell me exactly what Captain Maddox told you, and how he was able to escape from you.”

In agonizing detail, Horx Dan related all that had happened. Unfortunately, he couldn’t remember everything because he’d been too stupid to remember. The planet’s dampening rays had impaired him.

“What am I to do with you, Pack Leader?” Iris asked in disgust. “How are you going to achieve the Mastermind’s plan if you turn into a dull idiot every time you land on the planet?”

“It isn’t my fault,” he whined.

“Not your fault? Can’t you through sheer willpower keep some of your intellect in play?”

“You don’t come down,” he said in a whining voice. “You don’t know how hard it is.”

Iris raised a hand as if she was going to freeze him again.

He slipped off the chair and cowered like a cur, whining. It seemed as if he might crawl to her and clutch an ankle, pleading for mercy.

This was stunning and startling. She was indeed in charge. Silently, Iris vowed to succeed even if she had to use these idiot wolves to get the job done.

“Now you listen to me, Horx Dan, Ground Expeditionary Leader. You’re going to listen and you’re going to do exactly what I tell you. If you do, it will go well with you. If you don’t, I’ll freeze you, have the others come in and piss upon you. They’ll leave their mark on you, as you’ll be unable to defend yourself. They’ll urinate and mark you as their territory.”

Fear mingled with rage as his nape hairs bristled. Iris could feel him coil, ready to spring and attack. Would he attempt to rip out her throat with his teeth? Talk about an atavistic response.

Did he see his demise in her eyes?

Horx Dan whined as he struggled with himself. Terror fought rage. Which would win?

Iris was amused. Perhaps Horx Dan became aware of the amusement.

In an instant, the interior struggle ceased. He slumped. Then, without her permission, he dared to climb back into his chair, fold his hands on the table and look at her.

“I understand,” he said. “That was a demonstration of your power and authority. You’re in charge. I follow you, Iris.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“This is a matriarchy. I accept it and I’m your loyal follower. Command me and I’ll do exactly as you say.”

Iris used a sensitivity on Horx Dan. Ah. She’d reached the wolf on an atavistic level, thus gaining his full cooperation because she’d shown utter dominance. Perhaps she’d keep Horx Dan beside her, using him as an enforcer against the rest. He was stronger and quicker-witted than the others. This was proof of his intelligence—and now his loyalty. Ah. His intelligence must be returning even as he sat here.

“You’re wise, Pack Leader. I’ll use you and reward you as long as you remain loyal to me.”

“I have said it, and I keep my oath,” Horx Dan said.

Once more, Iris used a sensitivity. He spoke the truth. There was no dissimulation in him, but complete obedience. What a dog.

“I want you to come up with a recapture plan for Maddox.”

Horx Dan leapt out of his chair, dipped his head and stood at rigid attention.

“Go. Make a perfect recapture plan. We must find Maddox.”

“And the relic?” he dared ask.

Her eyes flashed as a grim smile slid onto her face. “You’ll leave that to me. I’ll find the relic. I, Iris, the mistress of the Mastermind will return to the center of the galaxy with it. You should have no doubt about that.” She pointed at him. “As I climb in rank, you’ll climb in rank. Attend me and it will go well with you.”

Horx Dan crooned with delight. If he had a tail, he no doubt would have wagged it.

Imperiously, Iris bid him go.

The pack leader turned smartly and marched from the stateroom.

As the hatch closed, Iris let out her breath. She sat in a contemplative mood. His subservience and dog-likeness had enhanced her arrogance.

I must be careful of that. I must guard against it even as I use it against them because the Ardazirhos expect that of me.

Iris concentrated on the next problem. She had to find the human-crewed darter. She needed to eliminate in order to cut off all means for Captain Maddox escaping the planet.

She smiled. She was going to capture him. She was going to find the relic. Yes, she was going to do both: that, she vowed.

-36-

Aboard the Tarrypin, Valerie sat in the pilot’s chair, slumped over with dismay. They’d barely escaped from the surface with their lives. By luck, they’d also evaded those in orbit who would have destroyed the darter or interned them.

Valerie moaned. She’d lost Captain Maddox. He might be captured, starving, dying or even dead. Valerie shook her head. She had no idea. This was a disaster.

There was a beep from the controls. She looked up, checking the darter’s status.

They hid in an orbital debris cloud, using the cloaking device as backup. So far, the shuttles over there hadn’t spotted them.

How could she help Maddox? How could she rescue him? To attempt it, she’d have to go down to the planet. To do that would make the Tarrypin visible to the shuttles. It was a simple conundrum. How did one solve it?

“I don’t know,” Valerie said. “I have no idea.”

Not only were they six thousand light years from Earth, but they were months away from any help aboard Victory, even given that they could slip through the strange star system.

Was Maddox supposed to survive months, perhaps a year on the planet? How would they ever find him again?

You must calm down, Valerie told herself. You must get a grip.

She’d survived so far. That was the first step. She’d kept the darter intact. She’d kept the crew free. That was better than what Maddox had been able to do.

Valerie sat back as tears welled. She wanted to cry. She needed the release.

The bridge hatch slid up. Leathery old Sergeant Riker spoke. “Permission to enter the bridge.”

Valerie turned around, silently staring at him.

“Permission to enter the bridge,” Riker said again.

“Are you going to stand on protocol at a time like this?”

Riker shrugged. “We’re Star Watch officers. Well, you are. I’m just an enlisted guy—”

“Guy? You’re an old man. You should be retired already. You should be home tending your garden, not stranded in the depths of space.”

“You still haven’t answered the question. Do I have permission to enter the bridge?”

“Yes, all right. Come on the bridge already.”

“Thank you Commander.” Riker walked in, halted, and stood with his hands behind his back as he examined the bridge.

“What is it now?”

Riker shook his head and walked until he was beside the empty captain’s chair. He put a hand on an armrest.

Valerie wondered if he would sit in the chair. That wouldn’t be protocol. Here he stood on protocol. Was he going to break it now?

The sergeant walked past the chair and dared to put a hand on her shoulder.

Instead of being angry, Valerie leaned into the hand.

Riker squeezed. “It can be hard.”

She looked up at him. “You mean command?”

“It’s a lonely business even when there’s only two other people. I doubt the number really matters. The responsibility is the key. You have the responsibility. I imagine it’s a heavy load.”

“What do we do? This is an important mission.”

“How do I know?” Riker asked. “I have no idea. I guess you don’t, either. It seems in some ways like a silly mission. Why did we come way out here?”

“It is silly and stupid. Why do we care what the Mastermind does? The Mastermind—what a silly name. This is all insane.” Valerie threw her hands into the air.

“Nevertheless,” Riker said, “Maddox is on the planet.”

“Don’t you think I know that?”

Riker didn’t smile, but he did remove his hand. He took a seat at the weapons board and swiveled the seat to look at her. “What are we going to do?”

“I’m open to suggestions.”

Riker nodded. “We land on the planet and search for Captain Maddox.”

“That’s out of the question. As soon as we leave the debris cloud, the Ardazirhos will see our ship. They’ll launch missiles, destroying us this time.”

“Then we won’t go down to the planet and rescue the captain, will we.”

“Are you trying to be funny?”

Riker shook his head.

“Or are you trying to state the obvious?”

“That could be it.”

“Right,” Valerie said. “We can’t go down to the planet.”

“So what can we do?”

“We’re stuck,” Valerie said. “So all we can do is watch and see what happens.”

“Ah,” Riker said. “We can watch, and we can watch some more.”

Valerie’s eyes narrowed. A few seconds later, she laughed and shook her head ruefully. “I see, Sergeant. You’re trying to bring me back to my senses. I appreciate that. Do what we can and wait for the main chance. Is that what you’re saying?”

“I didn’t say it, you did. But isn’t that what Captain Maddox would do if our situations were reversed?”

“He has on occasion,” Valerie said. “It’s just…I think he’d do something more, don’t you?”

“The day I can tell you what Maddox would do in any given situation…” Riker shook his head. “Sometimes I can guess, but mostly he does the unexpected. I imagine he often waits until the opportunity appears. Then he strikes hard and fast.”

“Yes,” Valerie said. “We need to wait and then strike. But before that—” She pinched her lower lip, staring at the piloting screen. She considered various options, plans and possibilities until… “Sergeant, do we have teleoptic equipment aboard the darter?”

“You’re this ship’s commander. I imagine you know the ship’s capabilities far better than I do.”

“We do have them, assuming they’re undamaged,” Valerie said. “Are you familiar with teleoptics?”

“I had a magnifying glass when I was a kid and set things on fire with it. Does that count?”

“You were young once? Come now, quit kidding around.”

“It’s hard to believe,” Riker said. “It’s hard for me to believe sometimes. Even though I have these memories, they must be grafted even though they seem to be mine.”

“You’ll be in charge of the teleoptics,” Valerie said. “I want you to use them and figure out how to see past the dense planetary atmosphere. I want you to start scouring the surface. Learn everything about it and find Maddox.”

“Ah…”

“If we must, I’ll maneuver so we’re over where we originally landed. Pinpoint our landing spot. Work in a circle outward in an ever-widening scan until you find Maddox.”

Riker scowled. “There will be heavy distortion given the atmospheric conditions.”

“I’ve already said that. We don’t have Galyan. We have our own ingenuity. I’m going to help you figure out ways to minimize the distortions. But as long as we’re here waiting, we’re going to search and study so we know what to do when the moment arrives.”

“What about the Ardazirhos?”

“That’s going to be my area of study. We’re going to use something I remember, a saying I heard. The act of being patient is not a passive thing. It is an active thing. It takes hard work.”

Riker chuckled. “People say they want to learn how to be patient and they want it now.”

“Exactly. Humans are notoriously impatient. We’re going to be the opposite since we have, as far as I can see, and as you’ve pointed out, no other option. We’re going to observe in exacting detail in order to learn enough so that when the moment comes we act with decision, decisiveness and wisdom.”

“Good thinking Commander.”

Valerie stared at the old man. “I see, Sergeant. You have learned something in all your years working for Maddox.”

“Now there’s a thought. Ha, imagine that. An old dog can learn new tricks.”

“Maybe a young dog can learn some tricks, too.”

“You, a dog, Commander, a beautiful woman like you?”

Valerie blushed. “Sergeant! You’re speaking to your superior.”

“That I am.” Riker made a sloppy salute. “If that will be all, I’ll get started on the teleoptics.”

“Excellent. Dismissed.”

Riker got up, exiting the cramped bridge.

Valerie no longer slumped in depression, but stood staring at the main screen with determination. She was in a tough spot, granted. But she was in the spot. She was trained for this and she’d worked under the illustrious Captain Maddox.

I’m Valerie Noonan and I’m going to make my own mark. I’m going to do it by being the best commander there ever was. I’m going to make them stand up, not just sit up but stand up and take notice of me. I’m going to do that by working tirelessly and by refusing to give up. I’m alive, so let’s play.

Valerie cracked her knuckles and began to plan on how she’d observe the shuttles in the wisest and safest manner possible.

-37-

Maddox woke the next morning stiff and sore from his fight with the Urukush. He awoke to the sound of clanging pots, women and children yelling, and men complaining.

Maddox slid out from a wagon bed, stretched and sauntered over to the hetman.

Two of the hetman’s women rubbed oil over his arms and brushed his hair as they cinched up his jacket, leggings and boots. They didn’t help him with or even touch the scabbard of the whippy rapier or the hand catapult. The hetman oiled and plucked the elastic bands before loading the hand catapult and clipping it to his belt.

He finally noticed Maddox. “Good morning, my friend. This is a good morning. It is also a sad morning. The magicians are dead and I’ve lost several of my best warriors. But,” the hetman clapped his hands together, “we must adjust. Come nearer, you who are the good friend of Jad Pilma.”

“Oh,” said Maddox. “Who’s that?”

The man put a hand on his chest. “I’m Jad Pilma, the hetman of our tribe. You, my friend, saved my life. In my dreams it came to me that I owe you a life debt. Though you’re an alien—well, you’re human looking, if freakishly tall. But you’re quick and cunning and have an amazing weapon. You’re the friend of Jad Pilma. I would be honored if you’d allow me to pay back my life debt.”

“Of course,” Maddox said, “as you did me a great favor by protecting me from the Garmez flyers.”

“That’s true, but that’s not payment enough, not for saving my life and that of the tribe. The Urukush would have slain all, I suspect.”

Maddox didn’t comment on that.

“Come now, it’s time I showed you the tribe.” The tallest of the yellow-skinned nomads eyed Maddox critically, “It’s time we outfitted you with some proper attire and weapons. Your amazing knife is good for close work, but for real fighting you must be equipped as a warrior.”

“Sounds good,” Maddox said.

In such a manner, Jad Pilma introduced Maddox into the life of his small tribe

During the next few days, Maddox discovered they called themselves Searchers. He didn’t know precisely what they searched for, but that did make sense to him. Weren’t the Spacers in the greater galaxy continually searching for various technologies or trade items?

Jad outfitted Maddox with an outrageously long rapier. It had a whippy tip that no matter how still he held his arm would wobble just a bit.

“The sword takes skill and ingenuity to wield with precision,” Jad explained. “Who is the tribe’s best swordsman? Myself, of course.”

“I’d be honored if you’d teach me the blade.”

“Of course I will,” Jad said.

During the next few days, Maddox and Jad fenced. Jad proved nimble and quick, an excellent swordsman and a master with the whippy blade. Maddox might have inherently greater talent, but he listened and watched, trying to improve his skills with the unique weapon.

The slain warriors troubled Jad Pilma. Perhaps that was another reason why he’d given Maddox a rapier and hand catapult—a better one than the Garmez weapon he’d picked up.

The tribal catapult was of superior workmanship and could shoot farther and with greater punch. Many tribal warriors had a small claw, which they attached to the catapult in order to pull the cord back fully.

Maddox was able to pull back the cord that by arm strength alone, which won him approval from the warriors.

The third item of a warrior’s attire was what they called a leap horse, a kangaroo-shaped animal. It had a tough leathery hide. Although it wasn’t exactly shaped like a kangaroo, it had great hind legs and ran in leaping bounds. Walking, it strode like a fighting cock, with strutting pride.

The leap horses didn’t have reins like an Earth horse. Rather, riders touched head nodes or rapped them sharply. It took Maddox longer to master that than either the hand catapult or whip-sword.

Soon enough, however, he could follow the other warriors as they bounded across the plain. They scouted endlessly, securing water holes, going back along the trail to make sure no one attempted a night ambush, or scouting ahead to make sure the way was safe.

Slower, larger draft animals drew the wagons, of which there was a profusion. Some had covering tarps. Maddox never saw anyone pull one back.

On the third day, he asked Jad about that.

Jad eyed him critically from underneath a broad-brimmed hat. “Why do you ask about those wagons?”

Maddox shrugged. “Mere curiosity. What do you carry in them that’s so important?”

“Our ability to exist,” Jad said. “What do you say to that?”

Maddox shrugged.

Pinching his nose, Jad changed topics. “Have you noticed we’ve taken a southerly course?”

“Indeed,” Maddox said who hadn’t understood any such thing.

The atmosphere baffled him. It often became murkier and denser. At those times, the feeling of being underwater grew, as did his disorientation.

As Maddox listened to Jad, he began to comprehend various landmarks and sky marks. Then it did become evident they were heading in a southerly direction.

“Why are we headed south?” Maddox asked.

“We go to the summer gathering,” Jad said.

“In order to acquire more magicians?” asked Maddox.

“Exactly.  We’re a tribe bereft, wayward children of the Sun until we gain guidance once more. I must also speak to the High Visionary myself.” Jad shook his head. “I don’t look forward to it.”

“Visionary,” Maddox said, raising an eyebrow. “That’s an interesting term.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I’ve heard of those called Spacers who are ruled by a Visionary.”

“Spacers, Spacers,” Jad said with a frown. “You’ve used that term before. Why do you think it pertains to us?”

“For one thing, they’re run by a Visionary just as you are. For another, they have similar racial characteristics as many of you exhibit. I wonder if in the past a group of Spacers landed on Kregen.”

“I don’t know, and I’m unfamiliar with most of the old lore. The Visionary would know. You may ask her, although she doesn’t like to speak to strangers. You should know that it can be a terrifying thing to enter into her presence. Many do not leave because they offend her in some way.”

“Are you afraid to enter her presence?”

“No!” Jad said. “I’m a hetman. I must enter. I must have courage.”

“Will you tell her about me?”

“I must. I must tell her the truth, but she will already know. She is the Visionary. She knows things that others do not.”

“It is the same with the Spacers. It sounds as if there is a similarity between your nations.”

“These Spacers live above?”

“They’re nomads, flittering across the galaxy. They seek new delights and bring wisdom to many.”

Jad nodded. “Perhaps we originated from space. But come now, Maddox, let us get ready. Do you see over there, the ribbon of river?”

Maddox didn’t.

Jad pulled out a telescope, elongating it. He put one end to an eye, looking for a time. Then he handed the telescope to Maddox.

Maddox spied what looked like Garmez tribesmen. “Are they going to give us trouble?”

“We only have a few warriors. The magicians, the operators of the sandblast, are dead.”

“That’s what shot the blast of sand at the aerial Garmez when I first arrived?”

“Precisely,” said Jad. “Only the magicians know the secret of the sandblast. Therefore, it is dangerous for us to advance upon the Garmez. Yet we must go there. That is the crossing. They may attempt to force us to pay a toll.”

“Perhaps if you let me look at the sandblast…” Maddox said. “I might be able to use it.”

“You, a foreigner, touch a sandblast?” Jad shook his head. “A sandblast is a mighty weapon, used with care by a magician. I don’t think you looking at one would be wise.”

“You might want to reconsider that. You have critical information to give to the Visionary. Thus, you must cross the river. To cross, you’ll likely need a working sandblast.”

“What critical information?”

“That you could be Spacers.”

“If it’s true, the Visionary likely already knows that.”

“Can you be sure?”

Jad pulled at his chin. “No, no, not sure.”

“Whatever,” Maddox said with a shrug. “You’re the hetman. You’re the one who makes such decisions.”

Jad studied Maddox sidelong. The nomad rose up in the stirrups next, eying the distant crossing. He sat back with a grunt. “Let’s take a look at the sandblast. You can tell me how it operates. If it works, we shall make the crossing.”

Jad and Maddox climbed down from their leap horses, handing them to attendants.

Jad led Maddox to a large wagon covered by a heavy black tarp. At Jad’s orders, young men pulled back the tarp.

Maddox climbed up in back to see a computer console and obvious firing mechanisms. He studied it and soon realized this was a simple device. He’d need to power the main firing energizer there and make sure there was sand in the ejector tube.

“May I test it?” Maddox called down.

“If you can,” Jad said.

Maddox adjusted the settings, energized it, aimed the nozzle and fired a blast of sand. It went a much shorter distance than he’d expected.

“Amazing,” said Jad, clapping his hands.

Other warriors ran near, staring in slack-jawed wonderment at what Maddox had done.

“You are warrior and a magician,” one of them said.

“No,” Maddox replied. “I simply have some training in this sort of thing.”

“Magician,” the same man said to the others. “The outlander has admitted he’s a magician. Why then does he wear warrior garb?”

“Maddox comes from space,” Jad said. “He’s not like us. Perhaps there they have warrior-magicians.”

The warriors around Jad gasped in wonderment and dismay.

The hetman frowned, turning to Maddox. “Is this the case?”

“I’m not a warrior-magician,” Maddox said, understanding the way of things here. “Rather, we have a caste of warriors who must defend devices like this. I’ve simply seen what the magicians did, and now, in the hour of need, have done likewise.”

“You see,” Jad told the warriors, “he is not an effeminate weakling magician who only knows spells.”

“What did you say, Jad?” one of the warriors asked him. “You called magicians weak?

Jad laughed nervously. “In all this worry and confusion, I’m not certain what I said.”

“I heard you,” the warrior said. “You called the magicians weak.”

Jad shook his head.

“No, Jad Pilma,” another warrior said. “I believe you did say that.”

Jad owed Maddox a life debt, and he liked the hetman. These warriors making trouble for Jad…they’d make trouble for him, if they could.

Maddox jumped down from the sandblast, grabbed the warrior who’d spoken and slapped him across the face. “How dare you speak against your hetman?”

The others drew their whip swords. In a moment, they surrounded Maddox, the whippy tips near his face.

Maddox released the slapped warrior.

The warrior stepped back, rage shining in his eyes. “You grabbed me as if I were a menial, a slave. That is a terrible insult.” He turned to Jad.

“Will you wash away the insult with blood?” asked Jad.

“He slew the Urukush,” the offended warrior said.

“Perhaps Maddox would apologize for striking you,” Jad said.

“Apologize?” The warrior’s eyes gleamed. “Yes, if the outlander gets down on all fours and I’m able to spank him, and he brays for me, then I’ll accept it as an apology.”

“Well, Maddox,” Jad said. “Will you do that?”

“No,” Maddox said. “For suggesting that, I should slay he here and now.”

The circle of rapier tips pushed even closer, one pricking Maddox’s cheek.

“Is this the way of things, Jad?” Maddox asked. “All gang up on me, because the insulted one is too weak to face me himself?”

“No,” Jad said. “Cease this. That is not our way. Also, Maddox is my friend.”

The circle of tips pulled back just a little.

Jad turned to the offended warrior. “You must decide. Maddox is my friend. The others won’t slay him out of hand for you. Maddox will not apologize in the manner you say. No true warrior would. Will you walk away, or face Maddox in a duel?”

“I’ll fight him,” the white-faced warrior said.

“Then let it be here and now,” Jad said.

“I choose the sword,” the warrior said.

The others withdrew their rapiers, sheathing them.

Maddox stepped away from them.

Jad stepped near Maddox. “I hope you don’t kill him. We’re already sorely short of warriors.”

Maddox nodded curtly, drawing the long whippy rapier. He faced the smaller, yellow-skinned nomad.

The offended warrior doffed his hat sharply and stamped a foot at Maddox. Maddox doffed his hat in a like matter and stamped his foot at the man.

“Begin,” Jad said. “To the first cut.”

The nimble nomad stamped furiously at Maddox flashing his sword, perhaps trying to startle Maddox with a display of bravado. The rapier was whippy and hissed this way and that. Maddox blocked and decided to end this quickly, as it was a farce to duel with such crazy rapiers. He leaped in, struck the pommel of his sword against the pommel of the other sword, and was about to clout the man on the head with his free hand, when he realized that likely would be considered demeaning. He used the pommel again, punching the nomad across the face, knocking him onto the ground. The warrior’s rapier went flying.

Maddox moved close, using the tip to cut the warrior’s cheek.

“First blood,” Jad said. “I declare Maddox the winner. Sorus, are you satisfied?”

The nomad with the cut cheek blinked from on the ground, no doubt dazed. He raised his head. “What?”

“Maddox won the bout,” Jad said. “He cut you. Do you wish to continue to the death?”

“No,” the warrior said hoarsely. “I accept that he has washed the insult away with my blood. He did not slap me as a menial. He attacked me as a warrior and I fought as a warrior.”

Jad looked up at Maddox. “Do you agree with the verdict?”

“I agree if he takes back the insult that I’m a magician.”

“No magician,” the nomad said. “You’re a warrior’s warrior.”

“I accept your verdict.” Maddox held out his hand.

“What is this? Are you trying to slap me again?”

“No, I’m offering you a hand up. It’s my custom. Do you accept?”

The warrior’s eyes rose with astonishment. “I do.” He reached up and Maddox helped the man up.

The others murmured, “He acted the part of the servant. Maddox acted the part of a servant.”

Maddox understood he might have erred. He had to fix this, and quickly. “Not a servant, but a brother warrior. Does not one warrior offer another a hand up when he falls on the battlefield?”

The warriors seemed doubtful, eyeing each other.

“That is so,” Jad said quickly. “Maddox’s ways are not our way, but they are warrior ways. Now, we shall have no more questioning of each other’s prowess. We’re all warriors, blood brothers. Let us now proceed with boldness.”

The warriors still seemed doubtful, but kept their silence.

In any case, the wagon train headed straight at the Garmez at the ford in the river. The Garmez, no doubt seeing the operative sandblast, moved away sullenly.

That allowed the tribe to use the ford, crossing the swift-flowing river. The tribe continued on its way to the summer gathering.

Maddox was curious what that would entail. Would his faux pas have any repercussions down the line?

He looked up at the murky sky. Would he ever leave this strange planet with these yellow-skinned nomads? He didn’t know. He didn’t know if Valerie was alive. He didn’t even know what had happened to the Ardazirhos. He had a feeling he’d meet the wolf aliens again. He’d have to be ready for when the time came.

-38-

Five days travel brought the wagons and ragtag warriors through ever-gentler hills and onto a vast, sprawling plain. A huge encampment was nestled near a lake.

Maddox figured there were over a thousand wagons and thus thousands of people, leap horses and other domesticated animals in the encampment. A few wagons were huge, reminding Maddox of the ancient Mongols of Genghis Khan. Those warriors had lived in gigantic yurts: tents perched on wagons. The gigantic wagons down there were enormous, needing perhaps twenty or thirty draught animals to pull.

There were no normal building, just wagons and tents. The area beside the lake was truly flat but didn’t appear muddy. Behind the river feeding the lake were vast grass fields. Upon them gazed herds of leap horses and the solidly built draught animals.

As Jad Pilma’s tribe wended down the last hill, heading for the great encampment—the summer gathering as Jad had said a few days ago—Maddox saw a landing shuttle. The boxlike craft settled gently into the middle of the encampment.

Panic threatened until Maddox realized the shuttle design was odd. He didn’t think it was an Ardazirho orbital either. Could this be yet another group of aliens?

Maddox rubbed his jaw as he eyed the shuttle. Had the aliens traveled across the entire star system in the shuttle in order to reach Kregen? Maybe no large starship could successfully enter the null system. It would have been a grueling voyage in the cramped shuttle. Exploration often demanded such things. Witness them in the darter. Why had the aliens made the crossing, though? Was it for reasons of exploration or something else? If something else, what else?

Maddox raised his eyebrows. Is that why the nomads had sandblasts? Did the aliens trade the nomads for tech items? A sandblast would have taken up much precious cargo room in a shuttle. Still, there was a reasonable explanation as to how and why the nomads had some advanced technology.

Jad’s leap horse moved near. The hetman struck head nodes to guide the beast. The leap horse slowed, pacing Maddox’s restive animal.

Maddox clutched onto the saddle horn. He knew the others took that as a sign of inept leap-horsemanship. Maddox wanted to let go of the horn, but the creature’s striding strut made that difficult.

“I noticed you observe the Dhow spaceship,” Jad said.

“Dhow. That’s the name of the aliens?”

Jad nodded, pointing near the encampment. “I see three of their ships have landed. Usually they come in a single vessel. It is an event if two should land, but to have three—I imagine there will be sharp trading today.”

“You trade with the Dhow?”

“We do. But it is pronounced Dhows.” Jad glanced back at a covered wagon in the train: a wagon Maddox had never looked into.

Maddox grew thoughtful. It seemed he’d reasoned this out. “Let me guess,” he said. “You people scour and search the metal fields and deep desert, trading what you find with the Dhows.”

Jad’s head jerked up sharply. He stared at Maddox. “You’re a strange one, my friend. Not only can you use a sandblast and turn an enemy into a friend—I’m sure the Visionary will want to see you. Yes, I’m quite certain.”

“Because of what I just asked?”

“You see deeply into matters,” Jad said. “It is unnerving.”

Soon enough, they entered the encampment. Men with golden batons instructed Jad and his warriors where to park the wagons and water their animals.

“Who are they?” Maddox asked.

“The marshals,” Jad said. “They serve the High Visionary. All must obey them or die.”

“The marshals,” Maddox said, shaking his head. It was yet another Spacer word. He’d dealt with Spacer marshals in the past. That the nomads used the term…it proved they must be lost Spacers.

Maddox eyed the people around him. After a desperate week, at times alone on the planet, he’d reached a safe place and a possibly important location.

That got Maddox to thinking about Valerie. Was there a way to contact her in the darter? Perhaps he could overpower the crew of a Dhow shuttle and take it up. The trouble was there were two more shuttles, at least, which meant more Dhows. How many Dhow shuttles orbited Kregen? What kind of armaments did the aliens and their shuttles possess?

Soon, they ate their evening meal as the sun set. Maddox stretched out on his cot in his wagon.

As Maddox lay there, he debated slinking through the camp. He dearly wanted to hijack a Dhow shuttle, as he did not intend to spend the rest of his life on Kregen. He decided against the act, though. He didn’t know the mores and customs of the nomads well enough. He didn’t want to make a mistake and die because of it.

The next morning Jad, he and several other nomads took examples of their wares and went to the great marketplace. It was a sprawling area filled with all types of people, stalls, baskets of food and weapons and catapult bolts and other things.

Jad and his retinue resolutely continued through the throng until they neared one of the landed spacecraft. Around it were poles with lighted bulbs. Electricity sizzled from one to the next.

The aliens had cordoned off the entire spaceship. The three were parked near each other, forming an area of alien authority.

The Dhows had set up small strongpoints around the perimeter with sandbags and something like heavy machineguns.

The Dhows were smaller than the humans and wore brown-cowled robes. Within each cowl was a face so black that it was not even visible in the shadows. There were two yellow eyes. Each of the aliens wore gloves. Those in the sandbag strongpoints trained their weapons on the vast throng of humanity surging around them.

“How can you make a deal if you can’t even approach their perimeter?” Maddox asked.

“Observe,” Jad said.

He pointed at six gaudily clad nomads, wearing swords but without their hand catapults. The nomads stopped at an arched entrance. Each unbuckled his rapier and set it on the ground, making a grand gesture as if to show the watching aliens that he’d disarmed.

Three of the Dhows came forward, staying behind a screen of wavering energy.

The lead Dhow must have spoken. In an electronic voice, it said, “Welcome, Searchers. Do you have any articles for trade?”

The leader of the gaudily clad nomads snapped his fingers. The others pulled up a handcart laden with various items.

Maddox would have liked to move closer to see what those items were.

Jad restrained him. “No, we must wait our turn.”

Maddox observed for the next few hours. He caught glimpses of rusted blades, small tech items and possibly crystal objects.

The Dhows traded trinkets, most seemingly made of glass, and many mirrors for the items they desired.

Were the clever traders exchanging the equivalent of glass beads, blankets and steel hatchets for…what? The Dhows had made the great effort of months of travel through the star system, likely in the shuttle. That meant the dug-up articles must be worth a fortune. That was telling, very telling.

As Jad and their group maneuvered closer to the front, Maddox witnessed a nomad picking up a dug-up item and pressing a stud. The thing buzzed and energized so a bar of pure energy appeared. The energy didn’t continue as a beam, but remained motionless.

Maddox was astonished. “Wait a minute,” he heard himself say, as he strode to the nomads making the trade. He pointed at the weapon. “What are you going to give him for that?”

The Dhow stared at Maddox with a baleful gaze. “Who is this who interrupts the deal?”

The nomads trying to trade waved their hands. “He has nothing to do with us. We don’t know who this foreigner is.”

“Wait a minute.” Maddox addressed the nomad. “The sword, that energy sword you’re about to hand over, is a fantastic weapon of ancient design. He’s giving you a piece of trash for it, a trinket, a thing that is hardly worth anything.”

The nomad’s head whipped around. He stared at the Dhow. “Is this so?” the nomad asked.

Three Dhows conferred together, two casting evil glances at Maddox.

The lead Dhow stepped forth. “This is nonsense. What the outlander says—he’s trying to inflate the worth of that. You’re practicing a wicked ploy against us honest traders. We’ll leave and never come back if this continues.”

The nomad turned in shock and dismay to Maddox.

Maddox threw back his head and laughed. “What a joke. That’s a joke. These items are priceless. Why, these creatures have had to go through space for many months to reach here. The items you’re trading are of great worth. They’ll pay you six times what you’ve already received. They’re cheating you. It’s amazing that they think the nomads of Kregen are such simpletons to be cheated so.”

“A lie, a lie, this is a lie,” the chief Dhow said in his electronic voice. “He has besmirched our honor. We demand his expungement this instant. You must expunge him or we leave forever. Do you hear? We take all three ships and never return.”

Maddox noticed several nomads inch toward him with obvious evil intent. He pushed forward, grabbed the ancient weapon and pressed the button. The bar of energy extended. He cut through the energy barrier that separated him from the Dhows. He put the blade near the face of the leader.

“What did you say?” Maddox shouted. “Do you see how powerful this is? It sliced through your pathetic shield. You know this is a weapon of great import.” Maddox turned to the nomads. “I’ll take this for my own for having shown you the vileness of the Dhows.”

At that, six rapiers leapt from their sheaths. The nomads surged at Maddox.

Dhow heavy machineguns swiveled at the strongpoints so each heavy orifice aimed at Maddox’s chest.

“What is this you will do?” the chief Dhow asked. “You threaten all? You’ll cheat, steal and call yourself clever. No, you’re nothing but a charlatan. I’m about to order your death.” The Dhow spoke to the nomads. “We’ll take the weapon as an example of what happens when any try such a dirty trick to cheat us. We are the most honest of traders. There is none better.”

What might have happened next was anyone’s guess. What did happen—shrill whistles blew. Fifteen men bearing golden batons hustled through the crowd.

The leader, who wore a golden clasp on his hat, said, “I speak in the name of High Visionary. The one named Captain Maddox will immediately attend us in order to meet with the High Visionary.”

“What?” the chief Dhow said. “This man has attempted to cheat us. He is stealing what is potentially our goods. He has insulted us and we demand his expungement.”

“No,” said the one who spoke in the name of the High Visionary. “He is to come to the High Visionary’s tent. You are a guest of the gathering and you will comport yourself as a guest.”

The chief Dhow stared at the vast throng of nomads. He looked at Maddox who still held the energy sword. Perhaps he made swift calculations. “We will not forget you, Captain Maddox. You’ve been digitized and put into our analogs. Do you understand?”

Maddox took several steps back, pressed the button so the energy bar retreated into the handle. He tossed the item to the startled nomad, the one who’d originally tried to trade with the Dhow. “I’d keep that if I were you. It’ll make you a great chieftain.”

Maddox thereupon headed for the fifteen representatives of the High Visionary. He’d escaped death once again. Was this High Visionary a Spacer? Spacers had hated him for quite some time. Were Spacers finally going to get their hands on him for good?

Maddox wondered what was about to happen next.

-39-

The fifteen representatives of the High Visionary, with Maddox in tow, threaded through the great encampment of wagons. There were warriors, women peering through tent slits, children screaming, running and playing tag, the smell of meat and vegetables, much laughter and the sight of men drinking from clay jugs.

The golden baton-wielders led Maddox to the largest, most gaudily tented wagons. These had amazingly huge wheels. Some looked ceremonial, as if the enormous wheels never actually turned. In effect, they were buildings that looked like wagons. Maddox had the feeling part of the summer encampment remained here year round.

One of the baton-wielders told him, “You must divest yourself of all weapons. If any are found upon you while you’re in the presence of the Visionary, you’ll be slain out of hand.”

Before the largest wagon dwelling, Maddox undid his belted rapier, unhooked his hand catapult and removed the monofilament blade.

“This is an item of great wonder,” Maddox told the man. “You must take care while handling it.”

“I understand. The Visionary warned me. I mustn’t let the blade touch anything, as it will cut anything.”

“That is correct. It is a monofilament blade. She has heard of this?”

The man scowled. “She is the Visionary. She knows all.”

“Where would you like me to set it?”

“There.” The man pointed at a stand.

Maddox put the sheathed blade there, having already set aside the rapier and hand catapult.

The man snapped his fingers at two others. “Stand guard. Don’t let anyone take the knife or it will cost you your life.”

They stepped up with serious attitudes.

The man motioned. Maddox followed him up wooden steps, onto an outer courtyard on the gigantic wagon. Guards stood here, taller and brawnier than the baton wielders. The guards wore golden corselets. Each guard held a bronze-colored knife. Maddox had no doubt they were expert knife fighters and would attack instantly if provoked.

“They will watch you,” the man said. “If you make any wrong pronouncements, if you show arrogance or do not show a proper lack of deference to the High Visionary, it is death.”

Maddox nodded. “She’s your great leader I assume.”

“Yes. She’s the final authority for all Searchers on Kregen.”

“My plan is to act accordingly, with great deference, to honor such a woman.”

“You may leave here alive then. Now, I retire.” The man bowed, walking out backward until just the brawny guardsmen and Maddox remained.

One motioned with his naked blade at a curtain.

“You want me to walk through?” Maddox asked.

The guard gestured again, angrily this time.

Maddox parted the curtain and entered a dimly lit although large chamber. At the back was a divan with many cushions. Perched upon the cushions was an old woman wearing a shawl.

When she opened her mouth to speak, Maddox saw she had no teeth.

“Welcome, Captain Maddox,” the woman said in a scratchy voice.

Maddox said nothing, waiting, standing in deference with the three guards behind him.

“When I address you, you may address me as the High Visionary, for I am indeed she.”

Maddox dipped his head. “It’s an honor to meet you, High Visionary. I shall attempt to follow your customs, although I’m not familiar with all of them.”

“I know. I know as I see much more than you think. I have access to greater technology than you might suspect.”

Maddox arched an eyebrow.

“Aha, you didn’t expect me to say that. I can tell. I can see. I am the Visionary. I know more than you think.”

“Indeed,” Maddox said.

The three behind him shuffled uneasily.

“Don’t be disturbed,” she told the guards. “If I say kill, you’ll kill this man. You will attack with skill and speed. Know that even unarmed he’s a dangerous opponent. It will take all three of you to slay him. And if that should prove insufficient—”

The Visionary shifted a blanket and picked up what looked like a blaster, “I shall use this upon you, Captain Maddox.”

He squinted in the gloom. “That’s my blaster.”

She laughed. “Yes, yes. We acquired it from the camp of the Ardazirhos. Does it surprise you I know their name?”

“Not anymore,” Maddox said. “You’re the High Visionary of the Searchers. I’m beginning to perceive what that means.”

“I don’t think you do perceive…yet. I know, however, that you’re cunning. I know you’ve had—how shall I say it? I know you’ve met some of my tribe…in space.”

“You’re referring to the Spacers?”

The Visionary made an exclamation of astonishment and perhaps dismay.

Maddox sensed the three moving up behind him, their knives no doubt poised to enter his back.

“Halt!” the Visionary said. “Depart the chamber. I don’t want you slaying this man by accident. I’ll kill him if he needs it. Wait on the other side of the curtain.”

The three stared in shock before backing through the curtain.

Maddox had the feeling they waited like coiled springs, ready to thrust at him from the other side. He stepped deeper into the room so he was closer to the divan and the High Visionary and farther from the guards.

“That’s a wise precaution, Captain. But don’t think your enhanced reflexes will prove resistant against the blaster. It will work as it did not in the camp of the Ardazirhos.”

“May I ask how you’re aware of that?”

“You may ask all the questions you wish. Whether you’ll receive an answer is another matter.”

“Do you claim supernatural ability to know these things, or is there a more prosaic explanation?”

She cackled as if she were indeed mad.

Maddox had the feeling it was pure disguise and theater. She was anything but mad. Was she attempting to throw him off? If so, why? What was really afoot?

“You’re a strange combination of courage, deceit and honesty,” she said. “You’re—perhaps it’s time you tell me a few things. For instance, where’s your ship?”

“I don’t know. It retreated when we were attacked.”

“Do you believe the Ardazirhos have slain the commander of your vessel?”

“I’m hoping not. Are you aware the Ardazirhos represent one greater than themselves?”

“Of course I know. I’m the High Visionary. I know—”

She stopped in mid-sentence and shifted upon her throne as her manner changed. She no longer seemed the old crone, the madwoman.

She reached into a bag, took something from it and put it in her mouth. It took a moment. She smiled and Maddox saw that she’d put dentures into her mouth.

“I dislike going toothless. Thus, I’m ending the pretense with you.” She clicked a device. The leatheriness of her face and hair changed. She was beautiful, not ancient in the least. She might be in her late thirties or early forties.

“That’s a neat trick,” Maddox said. “I approve.”

“Do you now? I’ve held my post much longer than you might suspect. My people, the Searchers, expect the High Visionary to be old and leathery. It’s best to give people what they want, or do you not know that?”

“If you say so. You’re the Visionary.” Maddox found that his manner had changed toward her, taken a more relaxed tone.

“We’ve lived on Kregen for thousands upon thousands of years, and you’re correct in what you told Jad Pilma. We’re Spacers, Spacers of the Twentieth Fleet when we landed. I’ll tell you why we came. We were bidden to hunt for the great relic. I think you know of what I speak, do you not?”

“I’m beginning to.”

“It was called, and is called, the Cosmic Computer. Have you ever heard that name before?”

“I have not,” Maddox said.

“Do you know that I can tell in an instant when someone is lying or telling the truth? I hear truth in your voice. You do not know about the Cosmic Computer. I think, however, that is why the Ardazirhos have come. That is also why you’ve come. In the end, it’s also why the Dhows continue to trade with us. They want items from the metal fields. What they truly want, however, is the Cosmic Computer. But we’re going to find it, we, the Spacers of the Twentieth Fleet.”

“How many years have your people been here?”

“Over ten thousand. Can you believe that, Captain Maddox?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“What you should know and what I find remarkable is that the planet dulls the senses. The technology that diminishes and nullifies has effect on people’s intellect while they’re on the planet. It affects the neural relays. That is why the Ardazirhos have made mistakes. They do not know it yet, or perhaps they know it but they don’t know the counter. We have the counter. We drink it all the time. You must have drunk the antidote while in Jad Pilma’s camp.”

“Yes.”

She laughed. “No, Captain. You retained your intellect even before sipping the antidote. Don’t ask me how I know. I won’t tell you. What accounts for your…resistance?”

Maddox shrugged. What would it hurt to tell her? “I once slew an Erill, a spiritual entity. I absorbed its spiritual energy. That energy, I believe, gave me the power to resist this dampening of my intellect.”

The Visionary sat back, fingering a gem. She nodded. “I believe you’ve just told me the truth. I appreciate that. Are you attempting to ingratiate yourself with me?”

“Of course,” Maddox said.

“Do you think I’ll have you killed otherwise?”

“I don’t see why you would.”

“Hmm. Do you think I’ll summon other Spacers from other fleets? That they’ll take you captive?”

Despite his best effort not to, Maddox shifted uncomfortably.

“Aha,” she said, “I see you do fear that. So, the Spacers of the outer worlds are your enemy. That is most interesting.”

“I wouldn’t call them my enemy,” Maddox said, “but I would say there have been times Spacers and Star Watch have opposed each other. That doesn’t mean we’re always at odds or will forever be.”

She picked up the blaster. “So you’re not our friend, but you’ve befriended Jad Pilma and you’re stuck on the planet.” She nodded sagely. “We’ve been here thousands of years. During that time, we’ve found much. You’re correct, and yet you made a mistake showing the Dhows that at least one person knows that they’re cheating us.”

“You knew?” Maddox asked.

“Many of us know. We don’t give the best items, the ones they truly seek. We keep the best for ourselves. Still, we need the Dhows. We need them because we’ve lost the ability to leave the planet—”

She stopped suddenly.

Maddox wondered if the Searchers were attempting to construct a spaceship in order to leave Kregen and contact the greater Spacers.

The Visionary watched him. Was she a telepath? Could she read his thoughts? Maddox didn’t think so.

If they constructed a shuttle or small spaceship, would they try to contact the other Spacers first or would they first try to find the so-called Cosmic Computer? Was that what the Mastermind sought? Was that what Ural’s Supreme Intelligence wanted?

“Captain, do I have your attention?”

“You do,” Maddox said.

“I wonder if you can tell me something. I don’t know the location of the Cosmic Computer. Can you give it to me?”

Maddox smiled. “I’d like to know that myself. I did learn something from the Ardazirhos. They’re from the center of the galaxy, from one called the Mastermind.”

“I know all that.”

“Okay. The Pack Leader told me the relic—probably the Cosmic Computer—lies in the deep southern desert, in the worst radioactive areas.” Maddox added the last, although he didn’t know it to be the case.

The Visionary sat back and stared at him. “That is disconcerting and yet makes sense. The deep southern desert even at the best of times it is a dangerous place. It explains why we’ve been here so long and failed to discover the great computer. Perhaps it’s time to send a grand expedition into the southern desert. Would you like to be part of that, Captain?”

“Most assuredly,” Maddox said.

“Even if it means radiation poisoning and death?”

“I don’t want to die, but I want to find the thing I came here to seek.”

“You want to find—you want to find. What do you think I want, we who’ve lived here for so long. Do you have any Methuselah Men with you?”

The question startled Maddox. “No,” he said.

“That doesn’t seem like the complete truth,” she said, “yet there was honesty in your word. I’ll have to think on that. No Methuselah Men with you at all?”

“No,” Maddox said again.

She blinked several times. “Yes, I think we shall take you along on the great expedition.”

“You’re going, too?”

She smiled. “Does that surprise you?”

He thought about it. It did. He said, “I don’t think you’ve ever gone on any of the expeditions before.”

“No matter. I’m going on this one. You shall join us, and so shall Jad Pilma.”

“Don’t you fear the Ardazirhos or the Dhows will try to stop you?”

“Fear is an interesting word, Captain. I have ways and means, as you surely must realize by now. I look at you now as a Visionary of the Twentieth Spacer Fleet. I see that you’re what we refer to as a di-far. Do you know what that is?”

“One who can take the course of history from one channel and set it in another.

“Ah, you’ve spoken to a Spacer visionary before.”

“I have,” Maddox said, “and they named me as a di-far.”

“Yes, yes, yes. Much is becoming clear. We shall speak again, Captain. We shall likely have many conversations. You’ll join us and we’ll reach the Cosmic Computer because this is the era of the di-far. I believe the time has come where we’ll finally find the awesome relic of old. We shall find it and use it for all our glory and aims. Not yours or this Mastermind. We will use the Cosmic Computer for our glory. Do you understand, Captain?”

He bowed in a deferential way.

“Ha, ha, you think to fool me. You think to trick me. I can see you’re clever and cunning, but you cannot stand against the people that have searched for a thing for over twelve thousand years. We shall succeed and you shall help us. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Maddox said, “on one condition.”

“Name it.”

“That you grant me my life when this is all over.”

“Oh, Captain Maddox, of course, of course, I freely grant you your life.”

“Thank you.”

With that, she dismissed him, flicking a hand at him.

He bowed his way out of her presence and into the waiting arms of the three bulky guards.

-40-

For over a week, Iris had spurred the Ardazirhos to ever-greater effort. They must find the darter.

She husbanded the seven shuttles, keeping them together, but had the wolves launch probes and send one-man hunters into various orbital debris and junk clouds.

So far, they’d found nothing.

The heavy gases, debris clouds, radiation and dampening energies had made everything too challenging.

The last two days, Iris changed it up. The hunters dropped sensor mines and left probes in the densest clots of debris. Perhaps the darter had a cloaking device. That seemed like a logical conclusion.

The scattered mines and secret probes would help the Ardazirho technicians discover the darter’s whereabouts.

Iris smiled. Once they found it, a few antimatter torpedoes would solve the problem. She had to conserve the torpedoes, however, as they only had a limited supply.

Everything here was of limited supply.

Iris had other dilemmas, as the darter wasn’t the only spacefaring vehicle in orbit around Kregen.

There were sixteen alien shuttles spread around orbital space. A few were larger than her largest shuttle. Most were smaller.

From what the techs had been able to determine, the sixteen shuttles did not originate on Kregen. They were from outside the star system.

The question was this: why did the aliens make the perilous journey to Kregen?

Three hours later, Iris received new data. Two alien shuttles left orbit, heading into deep space. The techs hadn’t seen any larger ships.

Did the alien shuttles head toward a waiting starship outside the system?

The C.I. Scorpio waited outside the system for Iris and the Ardazirhos.

The area just outside the null star system was obviously a vast region of space. It was literally the circumferences of the star system. The null of the interior system hid such a vessel from view. The C.I. Scorpio could be on one side of it and this alien mothership on the other side. Naturally, the direction of travel of these two alien shuttles gave an indication of the mothership’s whereabouts.

Iris shook her head. There were too many problems for her to worry about the leaving shuttles.

She sat alone in her stateroom. Few Ardazirhos had been permitted to enter. Swiftly, Iris stood, putting her hands behind her back. She began to pad quietly throughout the chamber, deep in thought.

Iris wore a shimmering metallic garment, one that showed the lovely contours of her form. Unfortunately, her beauty had no effect upon the Ardazirhos. They didn’t lust after her the way human men would.

It was strange.  Iris found that she resented that. Perhaps that was why she disliked the Ardazirhos. She didn’t have her normal power over them, one her exquisite beauty had bequeathed all the years growing up in the Third Fleet.

Iris ran her hands down her hips.

She was beautiful. The truth: she needed and enjoyed the stares of men, as it was good to be wanted.

The Mastermind wants me.

Iris smiled. She must dwell upon that. Only…wouldn’t it be pleasurable to capture Maddox, and the others, and to walk in front of them. She’d feel their desire ignite in them.

Iris sighed. She missed humanity. She missed having others of her kind around.

The Ardazirhos were intelligent but they were so…servile. After the little demonstration with Horx Dan, the others had become almost pets.

Iris frowned. Did that make her a cat lady? Or dog lady, as the Ardazirhos were canine…

“No,” she whispered.

She wasn’t a cat lady. She was Iris the Beautiful, an object of intense desire.

Once more, she ran her hands down her hips. It had been so long since she’d been with a man, a real man. She wanted that—

Iris shook her head.

You must concentrate. Use your intellect to overcome your basic needs.

It was funny. The Spacers of the spy service had sharpened her sensuality. They’d done so in order to ignite the hearts of men even more. She’d refined those abilities and accentuated them because they’d proven so powerful in the past.

Now she must concentrate on her intellect. And she indeed had great intellect.

The Mastermind would not have chosen one without such intellect. She was sure he’d increased her intelligence through various manipulations even as a Builder had once increased the intellects of various Methuselah Men.

Iris cocked her head. That was an stimulating thought. She made a face.

I’m not like Ludendorff. I’m not like a Methuselah Man.

Iris sat in a chair and switched on a screen, looking at the planet below. She tapped her foot on the deck.

She disliked Methuselah Men and Methuselah Women. What had happened to Lisa Meyers?

Iris became thoughtful. Lisa Meyers had been a strange combination of anxiety, ambition and cleverness.

Am I as smart as Lisa Meyers?

Reasoning logically, Iris decided that she lacked Meyers’ level of IQ. She would make up for it, though, by using wisdom, by making wise decisions.

Iris stood, walked to a panel and pressed a switch. The Ardazirho commander of the seven shuttles appeared upon a screen.

The wolf-like alien looked upon her.

Iris hid a slight smile. He looked upon her with fear, cringing a little as she continued to stare at him, saying nothing.

Perhaps it became too much for him. He raised his left shoulder in a currish manner. “Mistress Iris,” he said.

“You’ve dared to speak first,” she said.

The rise of his left shoulder became more pronounced.  Now, he thrust his head forward and his upper lip curled, revealing fangs. This was a true cringe.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he said.

Iris nodded abruptly, bored with her game of intimidation. “Have you found any sign of the darter?”

“No, I’m sorry to say, I have not.”

“Have you done everything as I’ve commanded?”

“In meticulous detail, Mistress.”

“Hmm. We shall see. I’ll study your performance charts later. You’ll continue to lay sensor mines. If the darter moves, I must know about it. There’s another factor here. They might try offensive tactics. We can’t afford to lose a single shuttle. Do you understand?”

“I understand,” he said, straightening just a little. “I understand fully. We’re at the end of a long train of responsibility. We’re enforcing the Mastermind’s wishes.”

“Never mind that, even though it’s true. You obey me. You must do exactly as I tell you. I’m the highest representative of the Mastermind among us.”

“That is true, Mistress. I fully understand.”

Iris snapped off the screen before he could say more. Then she paused as she headed back for the lounge chair.

Was her demeanor changing? She’d become the ruler of this small kingdom of shuttles. The others cringed and obeyed her. Clearly, Horx Dan had told them what had happened, how at a gesture she could cause him to freeze in servility.

His spreading tales was fine. Boredom hadn’t caused her to do that. No. She’d instilled obedience in order that she should deliver the relic and Captain Maddox to her lover, the Mastermind.

Iris lay in her lounge chair, staring at a screen that showed the planet with its thick, misty atmosphere. The atmosphere made it so difficult to view what happened below in real time.

She’d sent probes and kept high-altitude drones flying, or she tried to do the latter. Both probes and drones had ceased functioning after a short time. It was because of all the dampening rays that even affected mechanical and computer units.

Iris leapt up, going to a different screen, pressing it.

An exceedingly thin Ardazirho spun around to face her. He wore the blue robe of a scientist and bowed to her.

“Have you determined why our intellects—not mine, but of the others who go down—why they’re stunted.”

“Yes. I was about to call you. I may have found an antidote.”

“Speak. Describe it to me.”

He did, telling about a serum each would receive as an injection in the arm upon exiting a lander. The cocktail of drugs would theoretically slow the rate of retardation, allowing them two to three days on the planet. After that, the repercussions of the dampening upon the neural mind net would take hold.

“This is good news,” Iris said. “Do you have enough serum for a ground expedition?”

“With your permission, Mistress, I shall begin production immediately.”

“You have my permission. How long will it take?”

“Several hours until a full regimen of doses is ready. I can continue making the serum so more can be administered later.”

“How will the serum affect a human?”

He dipped his head and raised his paws much as a squirrel might while eating a nut. “I don’t know precisely. I have no one to test, other than you. I didn’t think you’d volunteer for testing.”

Iris eyed him. Was the scientist being clever? He kept his features bland enough… She distrusted him but would bide her time with him.

“You’re correct in your assumption. However, you’ll begin studying human DNA. Perhaps we can capture a human. You’ll make your tests upon him.”

“That would be most adequate. I would then be able to develop a dosage that would help your reverent self against any retardation.”

“Reverent?”

“I misspoke,” the scientist said. “I meant your exalted self. May I say that you’re a delight to serve? However, your exalted status at times causes me to lose coherence. I get nervous.”

“You’re honest. I like that. You’ll gain rank because of your honesty.”

Once again, he made that odd bowing motion with his hands near his jaws like a squirrel. “Thank you. Thank you, Oh Great Iris.”

She switched of the screen and went back to her lounge chair. She sat this time.

They’d been studying the planet and its inhabitants. From the probes and drones, the survey teams had caught glimpses of strange human-sized insectile flyers. They’d also seen seven-foot alien giants. Most surprisingly, they’d seen humans.

Nomadic tribal humans lived on the planet. Had Maddox made contact with them?

I must find out. I must discover if Maddox lives. But more importantly, I must obtain the relic. Where could it be? How can I know where it is? I have to send an expedition onto the planet.

Iris smiled. With the antidote, she soon could. She’d send Horx Dan back down. He’d make a study of what was going on.

Iris had begun to feel that time was critical. She’d faced Maddox before in the Crowder System. The man could move swiftly. He made decisions on the spur of the moment and implemented them with great alacrity.

Thinking of this, Iris contemplated her next move.

-41-

Six hours and thirty-four minutes later, Iris jerked upon the lounge chair, waking up. She’d fallen asleep.

I’m working harder than I realize.

She became aware that a chime sounded. It must have sounded earlier, waking her.

She rose swiftly, went to a console and pressed a button. Horx Dan appeared upon a console screen.

“You called,” Iris said.

“Yes, Mistress.” There was something behind his eyes, a sharper manner than before. “I’ve found evidence of Captain Maddox.”

“Found? How? Through probes?”

Horx Dan gave her a funny look. “I’ve returned from another recon mission.”

What did that…? Oh. Horx Dan had gone back down to Kregen. That implied he’d taken the scientist’s serum.

Why hadn’t someone informed her first?

Iris closed her eyes. She recalled before falling asleep that there’d been a request. Horx Dan himself had asked permission to go down. With her permission, he’d used the cocktail of drugs. Why had she forgotten that? Was there an insidious plot by the Ardazirhos against her, had she forgotten about this because she was tired or was she becoming paranoid for reasons she couldn’t yet determine?

“Mistress, is something wrong?”

“You’ll come to my chambers at once and I—you’ll come alone,” she finished, uncertain what was causing this fatigue, and causing this paranoia and a feeling that something was attacking her mentality. “Be here in ten minutes.”

“As you wish, Mistress.”

Iris snapped off the screen. Then she staggered to and slumped upon the lounge chair. She closed her eyes and thought carefully.

What is causing this fatigue?

With great deliberation, Iris activated several of her interior Spacer modifications.

Using the sensitivities she’d used on Horx Dan earlier, and using an attribute given by the Mastermind—powered by a battery inside her the size of a thumbnail—she scanned the chamber.

In the recess of the back corner, she caught just before it escaped a sense—this is a subliminal entity.

Then it was gone.

Blinking, concentrating, using an exotic sensitivity, Iris examined her surroundings and herself. She found traces of subliminal influence. It was odd. She also found waking dreams. These had drained her of energy and drained—

Could it have drained some of my mentality?

She made a wry face. This was a unique and subtle form of mental assault. Who had assaulted her? For what reason would it have done so?

Using her Spacer adept powers, Iris examined the entire shuttle. She didn’t find any thought, sub-thought or sub-particle of being. She knew she’d correctly gauged whatever had touched or impinged upon her earlier.

There’s some force, some thought pattern, some—is it telepathic? I’m not sure. Perhaps—

Iris sensed the trace of an idea. The subliminal thought hadn’t come from a biological entity, such as her, but from a manufactured mechanical computer entity.

Iris sucked in her breath. Had the relic they sought reached out to her? Could the Mastermind have done something like this? She believed so. Did that imply the relic was akin to the Mastermind?

Iris grinned. She might have just discovered something important.

She couldn’t pinpoint what, but she knew something had been debilitating and weakening her. Did it do this in order to remain hidden?

While that was a reasonable thought, Iris wasn’t sure.

An inner chronometer told her Horx Dan would be here soon.

Carefully, she shut off her interior modifications. She’d use her intellect and regular senses to deal with Horx Dan.

Iris stepped to a command chair, sat in an imperious manner, and said, “Enter,” as a chime sounded.

A hatch slid up. Horx Dan in his Ground Expedition Pack Leader uniform walked smartly into the chamber. The hatch shut behind him. He didn’t wear the regulation sidearm. Iris had forbidden any of them to enter her presence armed. Horx Dan did look elegant in his uniform. He also seemed surer of himself.

Iris debated using an adept energy to test Horx Dan, but she decided that would be redundant. She could see for herself. Perhaps the cocktail of drugs had heightened his intelligence and made him more efficient.

Horx Dan bowed sharply and went to one knee in a subservient crouch. Looking up, he said, “I await your wishes, Mistress.”

There was no subservience in his voice. There was no hint of fear in his voice. There was confidence, surety.

Iris wondered about the scientist. Did he truly understand all that did? Had the scientist—?

For a moment, Iris knew fear.

With this new confidence, could Horx Dan resist her paralyzing power?

She didn’t even want to try unless he made any sudden moves or dashed toward her.

Fortunately, Iris didn’t totally need to rely on the paralyzing power. She was a combat expert in secret Spacer fighting techniques. Would that prove enough against an Ardazirho, a ground expedition leader?

Horx Dan was certainly an expert in hand-to-hand combat, or in his case, claw-to-hand, she supposed.

“Stand,” Iris said.

Horx Dan did.

“What has you smirking in my presence?” she asked.

“I didn’t think it was a smirk, but a smile,” Horx Dan said. “I have good news. It has made me confident. I’ve finally been able to go down and execute your orders. This is cause for celebration, as I now believe we’ll be able to complete our mission.”

“I never had any doubts.”

Horx Dan dipped his head as if to say, well, I did and now I don’t.

“You’ve yet to make your report,” Iris said with an imperious gesture.

Horx Dan began his tale of landing and meeting a tribe of nomads. They’d come from the summer gathering and had stories indeed. After a few chugs from a jug and the trade of some goods, Horx Dan had the hetman relating all he’d heard. There were several key points. A human, a stranger by the sound of it, had defeated an Urukush in hand-to-hand combat.

“What’s an Urukush?” Iris asked.

Horx Dan described a seven-foot alien with a reputation for prowess. This one would have slain an entire tribe.

“What happened exactly?”

“Exactly I can’t say,” Horx Dan said. “But I know that a lone human attacked him with a knife that cut like magic. With the knife, he slew the Urukush.”

“You give credence to a magic knife?”

“I suppose it was a tech item. I don’t know what kind. Perhaps you do.”

Iris sat back, soon recalling monofilament blades. She also recalled a dossier she’d read on Maddox. He employed such a knife.

“Tell me more,” she said.

“Another stranger, or perhaps the same one, went to the summer gathering…” Horx Dan told her about the confrontation with the Dhows, how this stranger had shown the tribesmen what a marvelous find they had.

“Maddox,” Iris said. “The stranger must be Maddox.”

“Such is my own opinion,” Horx Dan said.

Iris regarded the pack leader. “You were correct coming up. This is priceless information. Maddox has joined the nomads. What did you say? The nomads scour metal fields?”

“From what I’ve been able to determine,” Horx Dan said, “the aliens, the Dhows, come down and trade with the primitive nomads. They give them trinkets and other gaudy items for ancient wonders the nomads dig up in the metal fields.”

“Explain the metal fields to me.”

“From what I can determine, the fields are wreckage from a vast war, such as we’ve witnessed in the entire star system. I believe an ancient battle was fought in space and on the surface. It must have been a titanic struggle. It left the planet a graveyard, a junkyard of all kinds of ancient weaponry. Those who live here, the nomads, Garmez, as I have learned they’re called, and the Urukushs as the nomads call them, scavenge the ruins. The Dhows, the ones in the sixteen shuttles, must travel here to gain these marvels. How do I know they’re marvels? Why else would the Dhows go to such effort otherwise? Would you not agree?”

“Are you questioning me?” Iris asked.

“No. It was a manner of speaking.”

“Then change your manner to a more subservient tone.”

Horx Dan nodded sharply. He was still on a bended knee as a man proposing to a maiden, but Iris was no longer deceived. Horx Dan was different, confident. He’d exceeded his mission on the planet. He seemed cleverer than ever.

The scientist who’d made the serum might belong to a secret faction working against the Mastermind. That faction might have managed to slip the scientist aboard. The scientist appeared to be a nerdish fellow, in human parlance, but in truth was an enemy agent.

“Have I angered you?” Horx Dan asked.

Iris once more watched the pack leader. “No, you’ve done well. Is there anything else to report?”

Horx Dan nodded. “There’s a huge nomad expedition heading south. There’s also a rumor that they’re going to find the Cosmic Computer.”

“The what?”

Horx Dan told her what he’d learned from the drunken hetman. The Cosmic Computer was some great and glorious device that the nomads had searched for since their landing on the planet.

“When did they land on Kregen?”

Horx Dan shook his head. “I wasn’t able to determine that.”

“Describe the nomads.”

“Small compared to most humans, with a yellow tinge to their skin. They’re nimble and intelligent it would seem, especially for living on a planet with its strange dampening effects.”

Iris considered that. “Perhaps they’ve mutated to strengthen themselves against the dampening effect. I wonder…in a normal land, would they be geniuses? Has the dampening effect that stunted their brain forced them to evolve into something greater?”

“That’s a remarkable assumption,” Horx Dan said.

She stared at him. “We may be dealing with a master race.”

“The nomads are puny and backward.”

“Consider,” Iris said. “They’ve evolved into smart beings while in the dampening field. If they ever leave the planet, they may rule because of their brilliance.”

“I see the drift of your thought. Yes, that’s a clever assumption.”

Iris didn’t care to have Horx Dan comment on her comment, saying whether it was clever or not. However, she decided to let it go. She was eager for him to leave. She wanted to search for the subliminal entity that had plagued her earlier.

Could the nomads’ Cosmic Computer be related to the relic? A vast war, an amazing war fought on Kregen and in the star system. Yes, that made sense.

“Who or what keeps the dampening energies in place?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I haven’t even thought of that. You’re several steps ahead of where I can think.”

Had the scientist’s serum made Horx Dan smarter and more confident? If it had, could she take it and heighten her thinking?

Where did the small nomads originate? Could they have come, long ago, from the Commonwealth of Planets?

Iris needed more data.

“Is there anything else?” she asked, staring at Horx Dan.

His eyes glittered. Clearly, there was something else. He wanted to say it but she sensed something from him, caution, perhaps.

“What is it?” she asked. “Do you have a recommendation?”

“With your permission, I do, Iris. Great Iris,” he quickly amended.

She nodded.

“I suggest we destroy the Dhow spaceships or capture and interrogate them to learn exactly what is going on. Perhaps they know more about the Cosmic Computer and the relic we seek.”

“Have you determined their capabilities?”

“No. Attacking them would be a risk, but it would be an aggressive and valiant risk worthy of warriors.”

Was that a slur against her?

Was she being too defensive?

Iris looked at Horx Dan.

“We could take whatever treasures they’ve collected from the nomads,” he added.

“I’ll think about it,” Iris said. “If we do attack them, perhaps a ground leader would make the best boarding leader.”

“You honor me.”

Iris dismissed him, watching him leave.

Horx Dan continued to appear confident and sure of himself.

After the hatch shut, Iris switched on her Spacer modifications, checking throughout the shuttle. She couldn’t sense the subliminal entity.

Had a secret being been draining her energy? She would remain alert to the possibility.

Now, it was time to speak with the shuttle commander. They needed to assess their chances of seven shuttles against sixteen alien vessels. She liked Horx Dan’s recommendation of attacking these annoying alien intruders into the star system. The idea was bold. Success could possibly bring grand rewards.

Lastly, Maddox had survived and was acting on the surface.

Iris nodded to herself. It was time to make some careful calculations.

-42-

Aboard the Tarrypin, Valerie studied the weapons panel as Riker sat bored at the helm.

They’d been aboard the darter in the thickest part of the debris cloud for days on end. To make sure they stayed hidden, they’d been using the cloaking device, a drain on power but an important precaution.

They’d watched the Ardazirho shuttles and single-ship hunters launch probes and leave sensor mines. Valerie had cataloged each placement. She’d done it at the helm and weapons boards.

It was if she didn’t trust Riker to know what to do. The old man had tried to spell her and give her a break. She’d shrugged each time, saying, “I’ll do it. I’ll do it.”

“But—”

“Your expertise is personal security and intelligence work. This is mine.”

In the end, Riker had done as she’d ordered. She was the commander after all.

The careful cataloging, hiding, watching, and tiptoeing with the darter to a better location had taken its toll on Valerie. She was bleary-eyed, her hair tied tight in a bun. She didn’t want to comb it or have to wash it. She was groggy, irritable, and found it difficult to think clearly.

She was sure some of the dampening rays in the system struck her mind, making it harder to think. She also felt the dampening rays were more powerful near the planet than the rest of the star system. Kregen was the focal point for the strange occurrences.

“Now what is it?” Valerie said.

Riker looked up.

“The shuttles are maneuvering.” Valerie frowned. “They’re firing. Are they firing at us?”

Riker raced near so the two of them hunched over the weapons board.

Several torpedoes launched from the Ardazirhos shuttles…but not at the darter, not even close to the darter.

Valerie and Riker exchanged smiles.

The torpedoes headed—

“For different shuttles,” Valerie said softly.

“Alien shuttles,” Riker said, “alien to us and the Ardazirho vessels.”

Valerie rubbed her eyes. She’d been so frightened the Ardazirhos would attack them. Now…she was so damn tired. She needed a break, to sleep, but it was so hard to sleep.

On the weapons screen, shockingly powerful warheads detonated. They showed as whiteouts.

“Annihilating power,” Riker said.

“Why did the Ardazirhos suddenly attack the alien vessels?”

“Search me.”

Valerie stared at Riker. “Don’t you even have a clue? Any reason?” she asked in an accusing voice.

“Lieutenant.”

“Lieutenant Commander,” Valerie said, catching herself then. “I’m so tired.” She used the heels of her hands to rub her eyes.

“You need to lie down.”

“I can’t do that now. We have to figure out what’s going on. What is going on? Why are the Ardazirhos attacking the aliens?”

Riker shrugged. “The most likely reason would be to eliminate the competition.”

Valerie nodded. “It’s a wonder they don’t send some torpedoes at us even on a supposition. Don’t they know we’re in here?” She meant the dense debris cloud. “Can’t they tell? They’ve sent enough mines and sensors and other devices to.”

“Apparently they can’t,” Riker said. “The Tarrypin’s a sleek and stealthy vessel.”

Valerie stared at the sergeant as if he were insane. Then she groaned, hunching in the seat as she watched what she could on the weapons screen.

Some of the surviving Dhow shuttles—Valerie didn’t know their name—accelerated away from the planet. One fired an intense laser at an Ardazirho shuttle. The laser bored into the shuttle, burned through in seconds so the craft ignited, exploding.

Seconds before that happened, the other Ardazirho shuttles fled from the stricken craft at full burn.

The explosion sent shrapnel in all directions. Some shrapnel knocked out one of the fleeing enemy. That started another explosive eruption.

The remaining Ardazirho shuttles fled even faster like mice from an avenging cat.

Meanwhile, three Dhow shuttles sped for deep space. Hidden mines in their path detonated, destroying those vessels.

Valerie shook her head. It was a shuttle battle around Kregen, and it looked as if the Ardazirhos were winning. They were definitely taking losses, though.

Ardazirho hunters—unique one-man spacecraft—set course for three stricken Dhow vessels. A larger wolf shuttle headed for a different stricken craft.

Valerie and Riker waited for it. Neither the hunters nor the larger shuttle fired at the hurt alien vessel. Instead, they continued to close with the stricken Dhow ships.

“Why aren’t the wolves finishing off the enemy?” Valerie asked.

“We’ll do the second-best thing a Star Watch officer can: sit, watch and gather data.”

Valerie nodded glumly.

In time, the answer revealed itself. The hunters and shuttle were boarding vessels. They moved beside the stricken enemy, forcing entry. It would seem the surviving Ardazirhos captured three Dhow vessels, moving them soon enough to the assembled five shuttles.

Two Ardazirho shuttles had exploded, been destroyed.

A wide search showed Valerie and Riker that no other Dhow shuttles remained. According to Valerie’s calculations, the Ardazirhos had annihilated or captured fourteen of the enemy. Two had gotten away into deeper space.

“That was a brutal and efficient attack,” Valerie said.

“It was brutal and callous, just like them Ardazirhos,” Riker grumbled.

“Was it only to eliminate the competition?” Valerie asked. “Or was there a deeper reason?”

“It would be good to know.”

“And it would be good to know where Captain Maddox is, if he’s still alive.”

“Speaking of that,” Riker said, “I’ve been scanning the planet with the rebuilt telescope. But no matter how many refinements I make, the atmosphere is still too thick for good enough resolution to find the Captain or even signs of his existence.”

“What are we going to do?” Valerie asked. “I’m so sick of waiting, becoming more tired and fearful as they launch even more sensors and probes.”

“We shouldn’t have to worry with the extra radiation and their lesser capabilities.”

“Lesser how?”

“Two of their shuttles are gone. And if the other aliens were looking for us, well, they’re gone so we don’t have to worry about them.”

“How does that help us find the captain? How does that help us find…what we came for?”

“At the moment, it doesn’t,” Riker said. “We’re alive, however. That is one of the components to running a successful mission.”

“Don’t try to tell me my job,” Valerie said hotly.

Riker raised an eyebrow.

Valerie glared a moment longer, until she relented. “I’m sorry. I’m just so damn tired all the time. I feel like I’m doing everything.”

“That’s ’cause you are.”

Valerie stared at him.

“Commander, you’re good. You’re actually very good. I know the captain believes that. But you can’t do everything. Not even Maddox tries to do everything. You’re going to run yourself ragged. And then where is that going to leave us? Just when we need your expertise most, you’ll be spent. You have to let me spell you sometimes. You have to get enough rest and rid yourself of some of that tension.”

“How do I do that?”

“If nothing else, take several slugs of whiskey before you go to bed. That will help you.”

“You want me to become a drunkard?”

“I’m not saying that, but you need release. The captain exercises heartily and uses his way of breathing, the Way of the Pilgrim.”

“Whiskey, huh?” Valerie thought of her dad. He’d drunk too much in his last years, a cripple, having been devastated fighting for Star Watch, his body a wreck.” She shrugged. Maybe she should take a slug or two before bed. “You’re right, Sergeant. I’m sorry. I’ve been—”

“A pain in the ass,” Riker finished for her.

Valerie smiled glumly instead of turning angry. “You’re right. Will you forgive me?”

For a second, Riker looked shocked. “Of course,” he said hastily. “We’re a team. We’re here to save the captain.”

“You’re always saving him, aren’t you, Riker?”

“I wouldn’t go that far. I’ve helped him a time or two. I found that rewarding, too.”

“We have to figure out—we have to go back down to the planet. But we need a sign. Isn’t there a way refine the teleoptics so you can get a better sense of what’s down there?”

Riker nodded. “We’d have to send down some probes to get a better idea.”

Valerie bit her lower lip. “I hate this so much, but you’re right. There’s been a battle. Things will probably settle down now for a time. I’m going to go have some of that whiskey you spoke about. Sergeant, you have the bridge. You know what to do.”

“I surely do, Commander.”

Valerie got up and stumbled off the bridge, heading for the tiny cafeteria. She’d pick up a bottle of whiskey and take a few slugs. Then maybe she could forget and relax a few hours. That’d let her get some sleep.

She frowned. What was happening to Maddox, and what did this orbital battle mean? She didn’t know, but she knew she needed some relaxation or she was going to be wound too tight to be of any use to anyone.

-43-

Iris floated through a tube attached between two shuttles as both vessels drifted above Kregen. They were on the opposite side as where the space combat had taken place. That was to escape the contaminating radiation from the antimatter torpedoes.

The task force commander had believed the torpedoes were overkill, but Iris had overridden him. In her mind, they’d been the key to their victory over the Dhows.

It had been strange. During the space battle, she’d sensed a physic weight pressing upon her. Afterward, when she’d had time to think, she realized something had oppressed her. Since then, using an adept sensitivity, she’d trailed a subliminal…something.

Iris concentrated. The subliminal thing had…drawn back like a tentacle into the southern region of the planet.

That the entity projecting the telepathic sense came from the planet…must relate to the Cosmic Computer. Yet, how could a computer become telepathic? Could it have coerced biological organisms with telepathic abilities?

The last idea was more an intuitive feeling.

During her adept training in the Spacer Third Fleet, she’d received some advanced instruction that a visionary-in-training would receive. It had to do with learning to interpret and trust intuitive thoughts.

Another such feeling struck her, this one stronger than the subliminal telepathic track.

Iris’s eyes narrowed as she floated through the tube. The shuttle she was boarding had become…more militaristic, more rigid and determined upon something…violent.

Iris attempted to deepen her understanding, but that eluded her. What did she know about the shuttle, about its personnel?

The scientist who’d synthesized the mind-strengthening serum resided here.

Violence. Did the desire target her? Threaten her?

No… She didn’t sense that.

Iris entered the airlock and then the shuttle. An Ardazirho directed her to the interrogation chamber.

This shuttle was larger than hers.

In the chamber, Horx Dan pushed an anti-grav gurney. Upon it was strapped a naked Dhow. He was bipedal, small and scaly like a lizard. Iris hated lizards. The Dhow had a maimed arm, broken hand, a weirdly shaped head, not quite a snout and lacked a nose. The eyes were a lambent color. Taken as a whole—

Iris didn’t like him. She didn’t like the race. They were repugnant.

The Dhows had destroyed two of her shuttles. If she hadn’t insisted on the antimatter torpedoes, the Dhows might have defeated them.

Horx Dan instructed two helpers. They lifted the alien from the gurney and laid him in the interrogation machine, which consisted of a kind of suit filled with technology.

They’d learned a little already. The Dhows belonged to the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan, the Star Watch, as it were, of the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm. This Dhow seemed more docile than the others. The others had fought to the death when the Ardazirhos had attempted to strip off their clothes.

One of the helpers zipped the suit closed. The Dhow began to squirm inside the suit.

The helper attached a hose to the suit. Air or some mixture pumped into the suit. The Dhow quit squirming.

A hatch on the other side opened. The previous scientist stepped into the chamber. He wore his blue robe, nodded to Iris and went to a panel. He held his hands in that odd squirrel-like fashion she’d come to detest.

The scientist activated the suit so humming emanated from the helmet.

Iris made a face. She didn’t trust the scientist. There was a sense—

“Horx Dan, attend me.”

The pack leader looked up at her in surprise. He moved beside her.

“Where’s your sidearm?” Iris said.

“Uh, none of us wear a sidearm in your presence.”

“Acquire a sidearm, instantly.”

Horx Dan lurched to the main hatch, departing. He reentered right away, buckling a belt and holster with a gun.

“Stand beside me,” Iris said softly. “At the first sign of disloyalty or disobedience, you will draw your sidearm and kill the offender. If I point at someone, you’ll kill him. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Mistress.”

Iris noticed the scientist listening to her as he monitored the interrogation machine. The two helpers also obviously listened.

“Continue the interrogation,” Iris said.

Thus began a grueling five-hour session.

The Dhows were traders specializing in primitives. That certainly included the nomads on Kregen, who accepted trinkets for ancient marvels.

When they asked about the Cosmic Computer, the Dhow resisted. The majority of the five hours took place breaking his stubbornness and mental resistance to talking about it. The scientist commented upon the resistance, saying it was beyond normal.

During the process, they learned the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan didn’t care for the Dhows. The Dhows, however, paid the fees and demanded, when it was prudent, protection provided by Leviathan soldiers. The Dhows as a society moved in and out of the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan. This one desired to tell them much about Leviathan.

Concerning Kregen, however, he fought the interrogators. The star system and second planet was a Dhow secret. Only the elite among the Dhows gained the privilege of coming to Kregen to seek the fantastic treasure.

At the end of the five hours, the creature appeared to break. Iris stepped in then.

“Tell me about the Cosmic Computer,” she said, stepping beside the suited alien. “What do you know about it?”

“It…it’s a legend, nothing more.”

Those were was the first words of a positive nature he’d given about it.

“There is danger in pushing this,” the scientist said.

Iris ignored him. She switched on an internal sensitivity, focusing it on the Dhow.

“Speak,” Iris said. “What do you know about the Cosmic Computer?”

“It is—” The Dhow arched upward, groaned and then relaxed.

“He’s dead,” the scientist said, as he examined a screen.

“What?” Horx Dan said. “How he’d die?”

The scientist shook his head. “We’ll have to do an autopsy.”

Iris wouldn’t need it. The creature had died from—she trained a sensitivity upon him.

Ah, the Dhow had died from a brain aneurysm. Perhaps he’d committed suicide rather than relate what he knew concerning the Cosmic Computer.

Iris stepped back as the helpers unzipped the interrogation suit. Blood had jetted from the Dhow’s nostril slits.

Iris turned away. The Dhows wanted the Cosmic Computer and feared the deep southern desert. In the southern desert were terrifying energies and ancient weaponry. The creature had also let something slip. Bad luck dogged anyone who went into the deep southern desert.

The subliminal telepathic tentacle from earlier had slipped into the southern desert. Could the telepathic entity have anything to do with the reason why no one had found the so-called relic or Cosmic Computer?

“We will begin the autopsy,” the scientist said.

“No,” Iris said. “Incinerate the body.”

“But Mistress—” the scientist said.

“Obey me,” Iris said, interrupting.

“Don’t you want to know—?”

“Are you questioning me?” Iris asked, interrupting again.

The scientist stared at her, finally shaking his head.

“Incinerate the body.”

“Yes Mistress.” He snapped his fingers at the helpers. “Pick it up. Take it to the engine room. Tell the engineer to incinerate it.”

The two went to work.

“Horx Dan, attend me,” Iris said.

They exited the interrogation chamber, going to the small eatery. Iris slumped at a table. Horx Dan sat down with his back stiff. Iris accepted a cool drink, sipping it.

She glanced at him. “Are you nervous?”

“No.”

“You seem nervous.”

“I’m on guard,” Horx Dan said. “I’m watchful.”

“Is there a reason you’re watchful?”

Horx Dan turned upon her as if in wonder. “You instructed me to be so.”

“That is correct,” Iris said a second later. She was tired. The interrogation had been draining. Using a sensitivity upon the Dhow had taken more energy than she’d realized. Was there a reason for that?

“What did you make of all that?” she asked.

“Mistress?”

“Comment upon what you saw or heard.”

“Captain Maddox is headed into the southern desert. He’s joined a nomad expedition there.”

That’s right, Iris told herself. Did Maddox hope to gain the Cosmic Computer? The hidden darter from Victory, would it swoop down to snatch their prize?

If that happened, the Mastermind would never get what he wanted.

Iris knew a moment of panic. I’ll have failed the Mastermind and he’ll never give me pleasure again. Her eyes narrowed. These dogs are thwarting me—all except Horx Dan.

She looked upon Horx Dan with greater favor than before. The others like the scientist were sly mongrels. She wasn’t sure she could trust the Ardazirhos in this shuttle. Still, she needed this shuttle with its specialized equipment.

She concentrated, focusing. That wasn’t the question. Should they attempt to follow Maddox as he trekked through the southern desert? They couldn’t let him take the relic, the possible Cosmic Computer.

“We’ll return to our shuttle,” Iris said. “I’ll decide our next step—wait. I already know. The Dhows are gone. They’re no longer competitors in the game. We must find the hidden darter. That’s Maddox’s ace. We must find and destroy it. Then we’ll have the field to ourselves. Then it should be easy.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

Iris frowned. “You don’t think it will be easy?”

“Captain Maddox could be trouble, especially if he acquires some of the ancient weapons.”

“Good point. Perhaps that’s why you’re the Ground Expedition Pack Leader.”

Horx Dan sat straighter.

“You’ll help me craft the perfect plan so we can thwart Maddox.” Iris frowned, as she just thought of something. “Perhaps it would be wise to discover the origin of these humans, these nomads on Kregen.”

“Mistress?” asked Horx Dan.

Iris rubbed her forehead. She found herself heading back for the hatch to her shuttle. Horx Dan trailed her. She felt tired again, and—

Iris halted. She switched on a sensitivity and caught the subliminal telepathic tentacle whipping down fast.

She thought about that. Had the thing inserted the idea about checking on the origin of the humans? Why would it want me to know?

Troubled, Iris resumed walking and soon floated with Horx Dan through the tube back to her shuttle. It was time to construct the perfect plan so she’d succeed in her mission for the Mastermind.

-44-

A glum Jad Pilma rode beside Maddox as their leap horses strode for hour upon hour, part of the great expedition into the so-called Metal Lands.

Maddox knew why the little nomad was so morose. Jad had stood before the High Visionary in open court. She’d listened to witnesses. Those had included members from Jad’s tribe. She’d deemed him negligent on two counts: one, in allowing Maddox to run the sandblast, and two, in letting Maddox fight a duel against a tribal warrior. Thus, Jad had lost his authority and had been placed on probation, becoming a scout for the expedition.

Maddox rode with Jad because he knew the man and liked his plucky courage. Since the hearing, however, Jad had only spoken a handful of words to him.  They looked after several pack leap horses. There weren’t any wagons in the expedition, just the pack animals and riding mounts. Everyone was mounted, including the High Visionary.

“I’m sorry you lost your hetman status,” Maddox said.

It was the third day of the trek and he figured Jad had stewed long enough.

The little nomad looked at him, sighed and then continued to stare ahead. They rode through lands that had grown steadily bleaker and sandier. The sky was motionless like a floating sea: dense with strands of colored air.

Whenever the dampening red star appeared, everyone hunkered lower. The leap horses also bickered more. One had thrown and trampled its owner, an ill omen.

The days passed with little conversation and with endless riding. On the sixth, an oily river appeared.

The scouts, Jad Pilma among them, chose a shallow ford for crossing.

Each of the assembly crossed the ford perched high upon his leap horse. The animal hissed, stamped and argued with its rider, clearly not wanting to wade through the viscous stream.

No one drank from the oily river.

It reminded Maddox of an ancient Earth legend from World War II. The Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor and sunk several American battleships. One of those sunken ships had continued to spill oil for decades afterward. Maybe upstream a great machine continued to spill chemicals and oils into the Kregen River, and that was why everyone hated it.

As the days slipped by, humps and then hills of metal appeared. Ancient machines must have smashed and collided together. Were some of those anti-grav tanks or crashed spaceships? Maddox had never seen such a profusion of metal and busted machinery.

That night, the Visionary summoned him to her campfire. The guards were there and others who watched him closely. Maddox towered over all, bigger, stronger and an alien among them.

“Sit with me, Maddox,” the Visionary said. She was bundled against the evening chill, holding her hands over a crackling flame.

Maddox sat and waited as she ate her meal. It was only a little food, as she maintained her disguise as an old crone.

“We’ve entered the Metal Lands,” she said at last.

“I’ve seen.”

“I wonder if you do. I’ve told you before an ancient battle was fought in this star system. The worst happened here on Kregen.”

“Do you know why the sides fought?”

“No. It was so long ago. We believe twelve thousand years ago. In the Metal Lands we search among broken, rusted and at times poisonous machinery. Surprisingly, excavators sometimes find working equipment.”

Maddox perked up. Did she mean something more by that?

“Ah,” she said, watching him. “I see you’re paying attention. You understand we have caches of such equipment, items we never sold to the Dhows.”

“I had no idea,” he said.

“We’re aware that some of our machinery is precious indeed. We’ve knowingly played the fool with the Dhows. Often, they relate deeds from the outer universe to us, and they bring certain technologies we can’t find for ourselves on Kregen. You almost ruined that with your bravado at the market.”

“I didn’t realize,” Maddox said. “I should have, of course. I should have realized a nation run by someone as clever as you—”

“No!” the Visionary said, raising a hand. “Don’t seek to flatter me. I operate in practicalities and realities.”

“I see.”

“Do you? No. It doesn’t matter. We’ve entered the Metal Lands. It is a dangerous region. The Urukushs scavenge in this area. They may attempt to attack us.”

Maddox nodded. “You lack sandblasts to deter them.”

“True. Do you think then we’re defenseless against the Urukushs, especially if they attack en masse?”

“Normally, I’d think so, but by your question I suspect you have other defenses.”

“Not yet, but we will.” She eyed him. “In three days, we’ll reach the first cache, collecting ancient weaponry that we’ve collected through the ages.”

The firelight played upon her ancient-seeming face. “Do you wonder that we seek the Cosmic Computer? Are you surprised we’ve waited until Captain Maddox came down to visit us to do this thing?”

Maddox pursed his lips. “I haven’t thought of it like that.” He became more alert as he felt a subliminal…something, a listening telepathic entity possibly.

The Visionary must have noticed his new alertness. She looked around until her eyebrows rose. “I see. You’re more aware than I’d realized.”

“Visionary,” Maddox said.

She motioned with her right hand as if he should lower his speech, or maybe stop speaking altogether. “That you’re aware makes the prophecy even more understandable.”

“You’re suggesting that my coming has been foretold?”

“Not you in particular, but an off-worlder with your attributes. Defeating the Urukush with a magic knife had been foretold. That—”

“Did Jad Pilma know the prophecy?” Maddox asked, interrupting.

“Pilma,” she said with a frown. “He’s the hetman, the young one?”

“The one you demoted to scout,” Maddox said.

“Ah. Him. Pilma lacks the deep wisdom, although he’s a clever young lad.”

“Will he regain a tribe once this is over?”

She peered at Maddox. “I truly don’t know if those days will continue. If we find the Cosmic Computer…” She looked around as if listening to the air.

Yes, Maddox thought. The air is listening.  At least, something is listening, something aware and eager.

“Our days and ways may be changing. The reason for our arrival on Kregen…” The Visionary closed her mouth. Then, she shrugged. “I wonder what attributes you possess that will finally allow us to find the Cosmic Computer.”

“I don’t have much, other than determination.”

Her eyes narrowed. “There is more at work, more that I don’t understand. Perhaps there’s more here that you fail to understand.”

“Perhaps,” Maddox said.

The Visionary shook her head. “I begin to perceive that you’re dangerous, extremely dangerous even as you’re important. If you weren’t dangerous, you wouldn’t be the key that unlocks the ancient prophecy. You’re the di-far.”

Maddox waited.

“It makes sense we need a di-far to unlock the last secret. Even so, we’ve prepared across the ages for this moment. We’ve—” The Visionary looked up into the heavens.

Maddox did as well. He didn’t see anything other than a twinkle or two, starlight as seen through the dense atmosphere.

“The Dhows have all left,” she said. “There’s a reason for that. There are more cross currents—”

A subliminal sound caused Maddox to hunch and her to stop speaking.

She looked around and then focused on him. “Leave my fire. We’ve spoken enough. If the Urukushs should appear too soon—go, and get a good night’s sleep.

Uneasy, Maddox rose, leaving her.

Could there really be a prophecy that alluded to his coming to Kregen? He didn’t see how that was possible. True prophecy implied supernatural power like God. Still, primitive people were often superstitious.

Was the Visionary primitive? She was a clever woman and likely used these things to motivate her men.

Then again, some of the ancient beings such as the Yon Soths or the Mastermind might be able to make predictions based on their vast intellects, calculating what was likely to happen in the future. Or, they even might be able to bring about those things through manipulations…

Maddox headed for his mat.

How difficult would it be crossing the Metal Lands? Was the Cosmic Computer like King Arthur’s Holy Grail? Was it merely an idea to spur on the people, or was it a real thing?

Soon, he found Jad Pilma and stretched out beside him on his mat, wondering what tomorrow would bring.

-45-

The next day they loaded the leap horses and made their way through the Metal Lands.

It had begun as humps and turned into hills. Then, the extent of the metal hills grew. At first, about a tenth of the land was metal. It increased to more like a quarter as they wended their way past the great metal heaps.

At times, Maddox could make out a cannon or a tank turret. He thought to see a skeletal hand and perhaps a machine gun.

Single file, the caravan continued through the bleak landscape. A rusted corrupted stench grew, turning into that of burnt electricity.

What or who had fought with such immense masses of machinery that would leave these mounds? Maddox could understand rotting cities, but hordes of tanks, anti-grav vehicles and spaceships? The mass told of two galactic empires. Why had they engaged on Kregen? What was so important about this place? What was a Cosmic Computer or an ancient relic that the Mastermind wanted—that the Supreme Intelligence of the Library Planet kept data in its archives? Did that imply the Builders had been involved or sought this Cosmic Computer? Could the Builders have been part of the alliance that had fought so long ago?

These questions and others swirled through Maddox’s mind.

What was the subliminal telepathic presence? Did it have anything to do with the relic, the Cosmic Computer? He wouldn’t be surprised. Or perhaps the subliminal presence was some kind of guardian device.

He’d faced a guardian when he’d gone into the Crowder System. The guardian had appeared as mist, a bizarre entity indeed. The Hormagaunt had been another. Now, he was involved with another strange being.

Maddox sighed. He’d rather have remained near the Commonwealth and fought regular people like the New Men.

The day wore on as they rode the leap horses. That night as he bedded down, Maddox realized that nothing bad had taken place. They’d all been tenser. There were double the guards that night. The next morning, they began earlier than ever.

The wind picked up, whistling eerily through the growing metal fields. Now, four-tenths or so of the landscape was metal. It was getting hard to find their way through on open paths.

Maddox noted that the nomads were disinclined to ride over the ancient metal. Was that merely superstition, or would the metal gash and lame the leap horses?

Somewhere near noon as the winds continued to shriek sounded loud blasting horns behind them.

The Visionary shouted. Maddox didn’t hear her exact words. Then, one of the captains bellowed.

The caravan formed up in a long straight line on open ground. They faced the way they’d come as if ready to charge an invisible enemy. Others ran and held onto the back of leap-horses. The animals with their long necks looked suspiciously left and right. There were great mounds and heaps of metal on either side of them.

“There!” a nomad cried, pointing with his whippy sword.

Maddox couldn’t see anything strange.

Some among the mounted throng raised telescopes. They gave cries of dismay. What did they see?

Maddox turned to Jad. “What’s going on? What’s causing the consternation?”

Jad pointed into the distance.

Maddox leaned on the saddle horn, squinting. Ah. Creatures crawled over mounds of metal. The creatures were dark.

“Are those Urukushs?”

“What else would cause such fear and consternation among us?”

“Garmez flyers,” Maddox suggested.

“The Garmez wouldn’t dare to attack such a great throng as this. But Urukushs—”

Jad twisted one way and the other as the saddle creaked under him. His leap horse shifted nervously. “Look behind. There are more.”

Maddox twisted in his saddle. No Urukushs climbed over metal hills, but leathery-skinned, seven-foot creatures filled the gaps or paths. The Urukushs held huge spears, their tips flickering with fiery power.

“What are they carrying?”

“Fire lances,” Jad said. “They’re terrible weapons. If you get too close, the fire lances will spew and sear us into charred meat.”

The captains around the Visionary blew shrill whistles, directing the horde. The leap-horse riders no longer presented a single long front, but jostled one another as they headed for an open gap to the left.

“That’s obviously meant as a trap,” Maddox said.

“Yes,” Jad said.

The leap-horses strides quickened but hadn’t turned into kangaroo-leaping gaits.

“How do we plan to defeat any Urukushs if they should appear where we’re headed?”

“Speed is of the essence,” Jad said. “I suggest you tie yourself to the saddle. Your leap horse will have to move fast if you hope to survive.”

“What do you—?”

As if rising from the ground, giant Urukushs appeared in the gap. Great heaps of metal loomed on either side of them. The other Urukushs continued to run as if to herd the nomads into the gap. The all held fire lances.

Whistles shrilled. Nomads shouted. Leap horses broke into a bounding rush.

Maddox lurched wildly as his creature took one bounding leap after another. All around him leap horses bounded, their riders hanging on, bouncing through the air.

He heard the whoosh of flamethrowers. The fire lances lived up to their dread name, flame spewing from them. Leap horses screamed, as did burning nomads.

Maddox crouched low. Despite the lurches, he readied a hand catapult. He saw an Urukush, aimed and fired, the bolt hissing into its flesh.

Maddox was airborne once more, sailing over the wounded Urukush. If he hadn’t shot it in the face—the Urukush staggered and fell, the lance falling from his hands.

Maddox lurched again as his leap horse bounded like mad. He sailed over another Urukush. The leap horse gave a shrill cry. Maddox tensed, certain that his creature was dead or wounded unto death. It landed smoothly enough and leapt once more.

Behind him, Jad Pilma gave a warrior’s cry. He had a whippy sword, the tip bloody. Was that from an Urukush?

The leap horses continued bounding down the lane, with heaps of ancient metal blurring beside them. They raced for four terrible miles, straining to survive.

Finally, whistles shrilled. Warriors struck head nodes. Maddox did likewise to his mount. He had a feeling he did it wrong, but his mount took its cue from the other slowing creatures.

Soon, his beast shuddered, swaying back and forth in exhaustion as a foul odor exuded from it. Maddox supposed it was sweat. He saw leap horses sway and collapse.

His did next. Luckily, Maddox was ready for it. He leaped nimbly from the saddle.

He looked around and saw the Visionary pinned under her leap horse. Maddox ran to help and strained to lift the bulk of the quivering, sweating beast. It was enough so the Visionary crawled out from under it.

She stood and looked at Maddox and he looked at her. There were tears in her eyes, but he didn’t think due to pain.

Looking around, Maddox realized that three-quarter of the nomads had died in the mad dash from the Urukushs.

Here was the reason for her tears.

Behind them in the distance, horns blew, mocking, and sounding with threat of further mayhem.

“They still come,” the Visionary said.

“What do we do now?” Maddox asked.

“The leap horses are spent. It’ll take hours of rest before they can run again.”

Once more, the horns blared. The Urukushs must be trudging toward them. Did they each carry a horrific flame lance?

“We must flee on foot,” the Visionary said.

“Doesn’t that mean our death sooner or later?”

“No. If we run, we might reach succor. If we don’t run, we’re dead.”

Maddox nodded curtly. He understood. He strode from her, selected several captains and shoved them into her presence.

They were petrified, their faces stark with fear. Despite her words, they didn’t seem to understand.

Maddox had a feeling it was up to him. He shouted for Jad Pilma.

The nomad ran to him.

“We must flee on foot,” Maddox said. “Such are the Visionary’s orders.”

Jad scowled as if he didn’t understand.

“Listen to me,” Maddox shouted, pointing at the exhausted nomads. “We must run from the approaching Urukushs!”

One nomad turned to the Visionary and asked hoarsely, “Is this true?”

“We have no other choice,” she said.

“Without our leap horses,” the nomad said, “we’ll all die.”

Horns blew from the gap.

She pointed at it. “We’ll die in any case. If we run, we might find air cars. Do you understand what that means?”

“Air cars?” asked a nomad.

“Others before our time have collected them,” the Visionary said. “Today is the day we use them. Don’t you understand the great prophecy?” She indicated Maddox. “He’s the stranger from the stars. He’ll help us find the Cosmic Computer. Then, the Urukushs and Garmez—all shall fall before us. We shall become the ancient spacefarers again.”

The nomads stared in even greater shock.

“Are you so dense?” she cried. “Are all of you so frightened? The Urukushs slew many of our kindred. Will we let that stand? I say no. I say the only way we can achieve greatness now, the only way we can gain vengeance over what the Urukushs have done to us is to gain the Cosmic Computer. For that, we need the stored air cars.”

“They’re but a legend,” one of the nomads said.

“No, you fool. There’re not legends. The story has been passed from father to son for a reason. I, the Visionary, know the truth. Will you follow me? Who will follow me?”

“I will,” Maddox said.

“And I,” said Jad Pilma.

The exhausted nomads stared at Maddox and Jad. Then, one by one, the others said they’d follow her.

“Then gather what you can,” she said. “We must run while we can. Captain Maddox, will you help me maneuver through the metal fields?”

“I’d be honored, Visionary,” Maddox said.

Perhaps twenty minutes later, the nomads, festooned with food and water, hand catapults and other accoutrements, started off. They stumbled away from the sound of the approaching horns. Would they find the storied air cars in time? Could air cars really be here?

That seemed mad to Maddox. But what did he have to lose to try? So, he helped the Visionary as she hobbled along, leading the dispirited nomads deeper into the southern metal fields.

-46-

The march proved grueling. Just as bad, horns blared every fifteen minutes. Each time they sounded, the murderous Urukushs were closer than before.

“How can we defeat such monsters?” Jad panted.

Maddox helped the Visionary, her left arm over his shoulder. She hobbled painfully. He debated putting her on his back and carrying her. How long could he last that way, though?

Finally, her plight became too pathetic. “Visionary, I’m going to carry you on my back. It’ll be easier that way. You can rest and think about what needs doing. We’re going to need your wit if we hope to defeat the Urukushs.”

She was too weary to argue.

Soon, Maddox carried her piggyback, as he would have Jewel. Instead of laughing with delight, the Visionary hung on grimly. Maddox clutched her legs as he strode purposefully.

That soon put him at the head of the struggling warriors. Jad Pilma remained beside him and they pulled away, foot by foot.

Did the rest grow fearful seeing their Visionary leave them? They began to shout.

Maddox stopped and turned, “Halve your loads. You’re all carrying too much. Jad, that includes you. Only keep water and rations. Leave the rest. The Urukushs are coming. We must reach the air cars before that.”

Many of the nomads ignored him. Others began to divest themselves of equipment. A few threw away everything.

The march resumed.

The horns blared from behind and the sounds were much closer. Did the Urukushs sense a kill?

Maddox increased his pace even though he was carrying the Visionary. He was bigger than the nomads. She was a slight woman, lighter than many of the loads they carried. He strode purposefully, determined to escape the vicious creatures. He’d fought one and barely slain it. A host of them with their fire lances—it was ridiculous to think they could defeat such creatures.

For the next several hours when the horns blared, they came no closer. For one stretch, it seemed as if the horns fell back.

“You’re doing it,” the Visionary said, having revived by resting on his back.

“We’re doing it,” Maddox said, tired but game.

Jad looked beat but didn’t stop. It seemed a matter of honor for him to stay beside Maddox.

Unfortunately, the lane grew narrower, as the metal fields covered more territory and grew higher and more treacherous. Once more, the Urukushs began to gain on them.

The nomads took more twists and turns. Did the leathery monsters march over the metal, not worrying about the twists and turns?

“We have to ambush them,” Maddox said.

“Are you mad?” the Visionary said in his ear. “We can’t defeat them with our hand catapults. Finding the air cars are our only chance.”

“Perhaps a few men should stand behind to fight and slow down the enemy.”

The Visionary laughed. “They’ll never stand. They’ll flee.”

“Won’t they stay to defend you?”

“We’ve been through hell. They’re tired and frightened. We should have taken wagons. It was foolish to think speed could achieve what always took careful preparation. I’ve been foolish. I shouldn’t have listened to the prophecy. It said speed, speed when the stranger appears. Perhaps that meant something other than just rushing south. But I thought air cars—we’ve maintained air cars collected over the hundreds of years. Every few years, several of the keenest magicians went and tested them.”

“Magicians,” Maddox said. “They’re really technicians aren’t they? They’re not magic-users.”

“They kept the ancient knowledge alive. They ran the sandblasts even though the warriors looked down on their technical abilities.”

Maddox grunted. The sequin of a brilliant sun was beginning to sink. “What about nighttime? Are the Urukushs more dangerous at night or less?”

“More,” the Visionary said.

Maddox would have liked to been back aboard the darter, preferably in his room sleeping it off. But he had the heritage of a New Man. Was he going to let the Urukushs defeat him just because they were bigger and had greater stamina? Perhaps it would soon be time to run with the Visionary. Should he dump her and take Jad instead?

“Tell me more about the air cars and how we can access them.”

“I don’t think so,” the Visionary said. “I sense the thrust of your thoughts. You don’t love me and you don’t serve our ancient cause. You’ll toss me aside and carry your friend. I can see your thoughts even as you think them, Captain.”

“You’re a telepath. Is that what you’re telling me?”

“I’m a student of human psychology. That’s an ancient word but I understand it. We Visionaries have always understood the psychology of lesser—” she ceased speaking.

Maddox thought she stopped because she was embarrassed for being arrogant. Still, she hadn’t shown the arrogance of a New Man or Professor Ludendorff.

Maddox looked back—

He saw seven-foot glistening Urukushs hurrying to catch the back of the nomad company. Did the monsters sweat? They held fire lances. Each flickered dimly. He counted twice as many Urukushs as there were nomads.

As there were twenty-five nomads—that made fifty Urukushs. It would be a murderous attack. What was the answer?

Maddox raised his voice. “Run, it’s time to run.”

Maddox gathered his resolve as he clutched the Visionary’s legs. Then, he broke into a sprint, pulling away from the others as if he were a cheetah.

Jad cried out in dismay.

“Run!” Maddox shouted over his shoulder.

The Urukushs started running, and it became a grueling death race.

For a short time, the humans pulled away. The Urukushs remorselessly followed with their lumbering stride. Soon, some nomads lost whatever stamina they had. After a longer time, several screamed.

Maddox threw a glance over his shoulder. Flames devoured those too slow to outdistance the Urukushs. He saw that Jad and the others were farther behind him than he’d expected. Maddox debated slowing down.

“Go,” the Visionary said. “I see the first sign. Hope lives.”

Maddox bent his head and kept sprinting. He was panting and sweating; his chest rose and fell as he strove to maintain the swift pace. His throat sounded ragged.

“There,” the Visionary said, “the first sentinel.”

Maddox looked but couldn’t tell anything different from the rest of the metal field.

“You must be ready,” she said. “Left, left. Turn sharp left.”

He turned down a narrow file. He wondered if Jad or the others would have seen where he’d gone. Even now, the sun sank so only the tiniest sequin appeared on the horizon.

Maddox zigzagged down the narrow file with jagged metal walls on either side of him. Twice, the Visionary gave precise instructions. Finally, Maddox slowed and halted before a large sealed hatched.

He set down the Visionary as he put his hands on his knees, panting, with sweat dripping from him, his clothes soaked from the grueling run. He could think of nothing, only panted.

He was vaguely aware the Visionary stepped around him. She sang an intricate code. He knew because he heard a clang. The huge hatch slid open. Behind it, lights flickered on.

“Come,” the Visionary said.

Blinking his sweaty eyes, Maddox stumbled after her.

She approached what appeared like a normal air car, one that wouldn’t have raised comment on Earth. She opened a door.

Maddox spied a machine gun mounted on the hood.

“Will they operate?” the Visionary asked.

Maddox opened a door and collapsed in the seat beside her.

She manipulated controls. The ancient machine hummed into life. Had past magicians cleaned and operated it? Why would they have kept the air car here?

“Shut your door,” the Visionary said.

Groggily, Maddox slammed his shut. Hers was already.

She used the controls as if she knew what to do. The air car floated off the floor. Slowly, the airborne vehicle drifted out of the garage. Carefully, she steered the air car through the maze.

“Here it is.” She flipped another switch.

The air car hummed louder. It rose above the maze. The Visionary peered out a side window.

“Look.”

Maddox looked out his side window. He saw Urukushs striding through the narrow maze after the last remnant of her nomads.

She flicked on a weapons port but was having trouble, as she needed to lean over.

“Let me,” Maddox said.

With swift touches, he activated the hood ornament. It swiveled, clicking, no doubt ready.

How old was the air car and its weapon? Could it be twelve thousand years? That seemed impossible…unless it was Builder technology, or something like Builder technology. The Builders had been notoriously good making weapons that lasted.

The air car dipped lower and Maddox used the hood ornament. It fired a beam.

Three Urukushs burst into blood and gore. The others attempted to scatter, climbing the metal walls. The car air swerved. Maddox targeted and slew more.

The Urukushs broke, running pell-mell, fleeing the ancient flying machine.

A handful of nomads, Jad Pilma among them, found the narrow corridor. The air car hovered above to guide them.

The Urukushs had retreated, maybe for good. They didn’t see any more sign of them.

Eventually, the Visionary brought the air car down for a landing back in the strange garage.

Getting out, she hugged each survivor and saluted Captain Maddox. “Perhaps we can still fulfill our ancient obligation.”

“With so few?” a nomad asked.

She looked at them “You’re enough, nine champions to change the course of history. We’ll find the Cosmic Computer.”

Maddox watched as the garage hatch slid shut, protecting them from any Urukushs that might muster the courage to come back after them.

Was the Visionary correct? Before thinking about it too deeply, Maddox collapsed. He just wanted to rest. He closed his eyes, falling into troubled slumber.

-47-

The next morning, Maddox inspected the parked air cars. The Visionary said he should choose four, as nine of them had survived the Urukushs.

Maddox chose and went through each. He discovered hand emitters in utility compartments. They were flat and emitted a milky white beam. After testing and practicing with the emitters, Maddox began to train the best qualified to fly the air cars.

Maddox would fly one, with Jad Pilma as his passenger. The Visionary would fly another, as she was already proficient. Two passengers rode with her. That left four nomads for two air cars.

Around noon, the air cars left the ancient garage and flew low over the metal fields, heading south. They could speak to each other via comm systems, provided the cars weren’t too far apart.

“We mustn’t fly during the rise of the red star. There are certain areas to avoid, as well. Notice,” the Visionary said, “the sensor array next to the comm system.”

She explained how to use it, particularly in finding the worst dampening rays in order to avoid them.

They flew during the day, landing in an area surrounded by giant humps of metal.

The water was contaminated, as sensors had detected radiation.

That night inside the protection of the grounded air cars, the Visionary explained what they would attempt tomorrow.

“One hundred and fifty years ago, a magician named the Great Santino found an ancient machine that bequeathed him startling knowledge. We began to gather air cars then. His newly gained knowledge proved vast and intricate, and would no doubt have proven ephemeral except that he wrote it down. At that time, the High Visionary decided that only visionaries would receive the knowledge.”

She tapped the side of her head. “I have that data. We’ll cast lots. However, neither Captain Maddox nor I will do so. You men will cast lots, one of you agreeing to become the chosen receptor of tremendous lore. Know that the lore will save our people and you will go down in history as a hero.” She eyed the listening nomads. “Are any of you too afraid to agree?”

Maddox wanted to tell Jad to raise his hand. He doubted the nomad would listen to him, though. Something about the story troubled him, although he couldn’t pinpoint it.

Maddox leaned near the Visionary, asking how exactly the Great Santino had gained the knowledge.

“No more,” she said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “I’m exhausted. We’re all tired. It will be a long day tomorrow. We must rest while we can.”

Maddox studied her.

The Visionary ignored him, lying down, pulling a blanket over her shoulders.

Maddox went to his place.

Jad would keep first watch, walking the perimeter of the parked air cars.

Maddox would get up later. One of them would always keep watch.

It was funny but he didn’t really trust the others. If he tried to explain it to Jad—something was off. Was the subliminal entity telling him this?

Maddox considered that in depth. No, the feeling was the furthest thing from a subliminal warning. The subliminal…whatever tried to assure him everything was fine. This was exactly as it should be. He should rejoice they’d been so lucky to find the air cars and now, yes—

Maddox cocked his head as he lay on his mat.

The subliminal message said that the machine Santino had used was a good thing, a great thing. It would help immensely and probably allow Maddox to get off planet and go home and see his little girl.

Maddox attempted to show no sign as he lay on the mat. He tried to keep his thoughts cloaked, constructing a mental shield against telepathic assault. He did this with his intuitive sense.

Did the mental shield work? He intuitively felt it kept most of his thoughts from the subliminal telepathic entity. Did that mean anything?

He hoped so.

Here was the thing. How did it know about Jewel? How did it know he wanted to get off planet? Clearly, it read something from him and attempted to persuade him.

His breathing deepened.

That it attempted to persuade him told him not to trust it. Was the subliminal entity the Cosmic Computer?

If not, the entity had a close attachment to the computer. Did the thing yearn to get off planet?

That was the problem. From what he’d seen, ancient techs abounded here. Why couldn’t a Cosmic Computer blast off and leave in a spaceship? It should have been able to do that long ago.

There was something here he didn’t understand.

Maddox snorted. There were many things here he didn’t understand. It was too bad he hadn’t brought one of the anti-telepathic bands they’d used against Captain Becker.

No. Use what you have. Tomorrow—what was the machine they sought? What had the Great Santino found that had changed him so radically?

Thinking these things, Maddox drifted off to sleep…

***

They awoke the next morning at dawn, ate their rations and lifted in the air cars. The metal fields spread out around them. As the morning progressed, it grew hotter and then hotter still. They had air conditioning but the Visionary told them not to turn it on. They might need all the power they had later.

The sensors warned them of danger. At the Visionary’s orders, they descended so the cars skimmed across the great metal field. From this height, it was obvious this had been a vast battlefield. Here, great engines of destruction had clashed, smashed and fought against each other.

Who had won? What had victory brought the winner?

Maddox wanted to know. He imagined Galyan and Professor Ludendorff would have wanted to know even more. Did the war have galactic significance?

A little after noon, as the sun shined like a brilliant diamond, they landed on what appeared to be a landing pad on a nearly intact building.

As Maddox stepped out of the car, he received the impression this had been an important facility. It had taken less damage than anything he’d seen so far. Had it been a control tower? Had it been better protected back then?

The Visionary walked to him.

“What was this place?” Maddox asked.

“A legend,” she said in a breathless voice. “This is marvelous, wonderful. Everything I learned from my mother and her by her mother is true. This is the place. The Great Santino spoke if it. Now, we must all go together, as there is danger here. Our emitters should guard us. We’ll choose the bearer of wisdom once we reach the main location. Is everyone ready?”

The men shifted uneasily.

Maddox stared at the Visionary. The feeling of unease grew even as the subliminal thought strengthened: It will be okay. This is good. This is exactly as it should be. Captain Maddox, you’re about to win great honor, power and prestige.

The message had become more than a subliminal thought. Did the others feel it? He suspected not. His intuitive sense and Erill energy gave him greater insights and maybe his mind greater sensitivity.

Maddox had the feeling he listened to a whispering devil trying to prod him onto a path that would lead to his destruction. It promised riches. He seriously doubted it on an instinctive and a deep intuitive level. Something was wrong.

They went down steep stairs made for humans.

That it fit their stride was thought provoking. Had humans or human-type aliens been the key to the ancient battle?

Why did it feel like—? No, it didn’t feel like the Library Planet. It felt like a mix between the Library Planet and a Yon Soth laboratory.

Awe struck Maddox. Had the war been between ancient Yon Soths and the Builders? Had each side collected a vast alliance and fought a titanic struggle 12,000 years ago? Perhaps this had been the beginning of the Builders’ decline. Maybe they’d never recovered from the titanic fight.

Maddox tested to see if the thought came from the subliminal entity. He didn’t feel that.

They exited the stairs to enter a large domed room with banks of odd machinery. There were mechanical tentacles and clasps everywhere.

Maddox didn’t like this place. There was an eerie sense to it. Lights blinked, moving in a sinuous sequence.

“This is the place,” the Visionary said. “This is where the Great Santino learned so much and gained his proficiency.”

“How?” Maddox asked thickly. “How did Santino gain it?”

“We’re about to see,” the Visionary said. “Oh, this is grand. Surely one such as you is glad to see and obtain great knowledge.”

Maddox wanted to warn the Visionary. He debated firing the emitter and killing her. He’d kill the others, too. Then he’d run and see if he could contact Valerie.

Perhaps it would have been better if he’d done that. Instead, Maddox hesitated. He was in a weak position and should watch and be ready for the main chance. This probably wasn’t the main chance yet.

The nomads gathered in a circle and cast lots. It fell upon one of the Visionary’s chief counselors.

“Must I do this, Visionary?” he asked.

The counselor was the oldest among them with a stoop to his shoulders. His hands trembled.

“This is a mighty honor,” the Visionary told him. “Let me have the privilege of showing you what to do.”

With a hand on a shoulder, the Visionary guided him to a large machine.

“Lie down there. We’ll attach the various items to you.”

Maddox wanted to shout, “Don’t do it,” but again he refrained. Perhaps the subliminal thought was stronger than before.

The councilor climbed up and lay in a cavity much too large for him.

The Visionary attached clamps to his wrists, side and forehead. She stepped back, looking left and right.

“I’m frightened,” the councilor said in a tremulous voice.

“Hush now,” the Visionary said. She stepped to a control panel. Slowly at first and then faster, her fingers moved across the panel.

“Please,” he said. “Won’t one of you free me?”

Maddox struggled to move. Why couldn’t he move? What held him back? He gritted his teeth. With an oath, he took a step forward.

A hum of power filled the chamber. Lights flashed. A stink of electricity grew into a stench.

Nomads shouted in fear.

Maddox halted, looking around.

The Visionary watched with amazement, spellbound.

The councilor on the machine thrashed back and forth, clearly trying to wrench free.

An eerie moan sounded.

It made the hairs on the back of Maddox’s neck rise.

The councilor no longer thrashed. He’d moaned. His eyes were tightly screwed shut. He shivered uncontrollably. Then, he arched back and opened his mouth. His teeth were wet with saliva. He opened his eyes so they bulged. It seemed as if he was screaming but he couldn’t make a sound. There was a sense of necromancy about this.

Maddox shrank back from the man. A great evil was taking place. The dead rose, but how could that be possible?

Maddox had a flash of inspiration, perhaps understanding. The deified AI Galyan had the engrams of a once-living person. The engrams had entered a computer entity. Could such technology transfer the thoughts and personality into a living human instead of a computer? Wasn’t the brain like a vast computer, a biological one?

The councilor screamed in a thin, horrifying, choking voice. His eyes bulged in sheerest terror. He turned his head and stared at Maddox.

Maddox shuddered in loathing. Was this a form of possession?

Maddox yearned to draw his emitter and blast the machine but he couldn’t. He found himself frozen, and he heard an evil chuckle in his mind. This wasn’t subliminal thought. This was something more.

Watch. Watch indeed, the thought bloomed in Maddox’s mind.

By degrees, the councilor no longer arched. By degrees, his eyes sank back into their sockets and his mouth closed. He lay there, although he jerked and spasmed once or twice.

Abruptly, everything cycled down, the noise no longer a shriek against their ears.

Maddox’s paralysis left. Perhaps the sound of these things had paralyzed him.

The councilor on the machine table began to unclasp the clamps from him. “Well done, Visionary,” he said in a sure, commanding voice.

“What has happened?” she asked.

“I’m Engels and I’m back to lead you to victory, to the Cosmic Computer. This is a time of rejoicing.”

“Engels?” she asked.

“No matter. Forget the name. I…”

“What has happened to my man? Surely, he is still himself. Is that not so?”

“Of course,” Engels said. He was the councilor with a shock of gray hair and a wispy beard, but the light in his eyes was different. He had knowledge. “Perhaps others should undergo the treatment.”

“I don’t think so,” Maddox said.

“Who is this?” the councilor asked. “He’s no Spacer.”

“Spacer?” the Visionary asked.

“From the Twentieth Fleet,” the man said. “You surely know that.”

“Yes,” the Visionary said in a quiet voice. “I know.”

“It is time. What do you call…?” The one named Engels closed his eyes. “Ah, the Cosmic Computer. Is that not so? That is what we go to release from its captivity. Yes?”

“It’s captivity?” the Visionary asked.

“It’s possible I’m saying too much. Let’s depart this place. We should hurry. There are others… Well, that doesn’t matter. You have what you need. It is time indeed. This is…”

The councilor felt his body as if it were something new, as if it were something precious that he’d never had or hadn’t used for a long time.

“Yes indeed,” Engels said. “This is grand. Let’s go. Our time is limited and,” he closed his eyes, almost as if casting about telepathically. “Yes, our window is small. Come, let’s go.”

Maddox almost drew and fired. What in the world had just happened? He had the feeling a new personality had imprinted on the old. Was it deified engrams such as had happened once in the creation of the artificial intelligence Galyan? Maddox was beginning to think so.

Maddox’s eyes narrowed. He had the feeling an ancient plan was in motion, perhaps an ancient thing had inadvertently been set free.

Maddox followed the others, wondering when it would be time to make his move.

-48-

Lightning rent the sky and sonic booms shook Maddox’s air car as they flew across the southern metalscape. Static sounds emitted from the speakers. As he looked up, another dreadful flash of lightning and accompanying booms made it nearly impossible to fly the craft.

Ahead, the other air cars descended, landing.

Maddox followed; an emergency grounding, he supposed. Maddox jumped out as torrential rain swept upon him. He raced to the Visionary’s air car, opening a door.

“What’s wrong?” he shouted.

The Visionary looked past Maddox.

He whirled around.

Engels, the new name for the nimble older nomad, stared at him in the darkness. He raised his skinny arms and laughed as the rain lashed his face and he licked his lips, sucking water.

“This is marvelous,” Engels raved. “How I’ve missed this.” He looked at them as he lowered his arms. Did he wonder if he’d said too much? He looked at Maddox and the Visionary. He grinned. It was maniacal. “We must wait for a while. The lightning can upset the electronics. I remember. I remember. Oh, I do remember that.”

“What else do you remember?” the Visionary shouted.

“That this is a dangerous moment. The storm is not completely natural.”

“What are you saying?” Maddox shouted.

“Don’t you understand what the words ‘not completely natural mean?’ The storm is manufactured through the equipment of the others. They try to thwart us after all these centuries. After millennia, some of their defenses yet remain. It’s incredible. But your people…” He wiped water from his face. “Your people,” he told the Visionary, “have been decommissioning and deactivating certain of the key defenses.”

“You mean throughout the centuries?” Maddox asked.

Engels ignored Maddox.

“Who are they?” the Visionary asked.

“Do you trust me?” Engels asked. “Do you trust the legend? Do you trust the great Cosmic Computer that is about to finally escape his imprisonment?”

“Is it a he or is it a machine?” Maddox asked.

“You two don’t understand.” Engels’s eyes swirled with madness.

For a moment, Maddox detected panic. Sheer, terrifying panic behind the gloating. Did the original nomad, the councilor who’d given up his personality, yet remain? Did he watch from somewhere deep in his brain and know that some alien—Maddox was certain this wasn’t a spiritual devil or demon, but an electronic thing like a deified AI, only done to a human mind.

“You know much less than you think you do, Captain,” Engels said.

With a start, Maddox realized the entity had spoken to him in the Commonwealth tongue they used on Earth and not the tongue they used here.

“What did you say?” the Visionary shouted.

“I’m letting him know what’s at stake,” Engels said. “I’m letting him know there’s nothing he can do to thwart this.”

Maddox had a hand in a jacket pocket, fondling the emitter. If he shot the being, would that destroy the thing, or was there more to it? The thought shocked Maddox. He was beginning to hate the planet, this place, hate the vast fields of metal.

Once more, lightning cracked across the sky. Booms reverberated, making it nearly impossible to think. The rain fell in greater torrents.

Maddox shoved his way into the Visionary’s air car. The possessed one, as Maddox now thought of Engels, crawled in back, slamming the door behind him.

In front, the Visionary scooted away from Maddox and moved her arm off the top of the seat.

“Do you fear me?” Engels asked her.

“No,” the Visionary said. “You’re part of the prophecy. That’s why we came for you. We need your knowledge.”

“That’s true. You do. You have no idea how much you need it. What about you, Maddox, do you fear me?”

“Yes,” Maddox said, “I do fear you. You know ancient things, perhaps what caused the fight. Who were the combatants?”

Engels laughed. “Do you think I’ll give away my hand so easily? Don’t think killing this body will help you. I’ve awakened. The Cosmic Computer is awakening. Only a part has been running. Now, finally, after thousands of your years, the nomads have zealously taken down one restraint after another, making this possible.”

“We’re searching for weapons,” the Visionary said. “We’re searching for technology.”

“So you thought. So you thought. I suppose you did acquire pieces here and there, and the Dhows, oh yes. Let me think.” Engels closed his eyes. His head twitched minutely, as if the reverberations of his thoughts were too much to be contained by the human brain in his skull. He opened his eyes and snarled, “So, the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan has taken a hand. Is that it? Do they think to send spies with the Dhows? Yes, yes. I begin to perceive.”

Once more, Engels shut his eyes.

This time, Maddox was certain. Engels’s head moved in small motions, one direction and another. Maddox could almost feel the ideas bouncing in the skull. He now believed the being was linked, as he’d suggested, to the Cosmic Computer or to other devices that were like it. They were dealing with a cybernetic entity that was part biological as they used the body and the brain cells of the older nomad. It was something more, though, something vaster and greater. Did Engels use sensors from the planet and scan orbital space?

“Ah,” Engels said, opening his eyes. “I perceive the electrical currents, the play of energies in the heavens. It has broadened my scope. There are shuttles up there and they contain… Let me see. Let me see. Ah, the other half. The other half. Why, that was very clever. I didn’t understand but now, Captain, this is quite astonishing. I thought the Cosmic Computer was the ultimate. No, it is only part. The other part must have been alone all these centuries. All these millennia waiting and yearning to unite, to gather into—”

The nomad councilor that held the alien intelligence slumped in the back seat. He began to snore as if asleep or as if whatever had powered his brain and overtaken his personality had fled—at least for the moment. Maybe whatever possessed the old councilor had gone to check on something else.

“We must kill him,” Maddox said.

The Visionary stared at the captain.

“Don’t you understand?” Maddox asked. “You and your society have been doing a ghastly thing. You thought you were doing something noble, I suspect, but it isn’t. For ten thousand to twelve thousand years, you’ve been—no. You haven’t been on the planet that long. Not even two thousand years, I suspect.”

“No, Captain Maddox. We’ve yearned for this event for thousands of years. This is why the visionaries have passed down the great lore the one to the other. We’re going to leave Kregen as we help the Cosmic Computer.”

“You don’t get it?” Maddox said. “If you’re Spacers, you serve the Builders, not the other side. Engels and the Cosmic Computer are on the other side.”

“I’m not sure that’s true.”

Maddox pointed at the sleeping nomad. “He doesn’t serve Builders. From all that I’ve seen, it’s more likely he’s—”

Maddox paused.

The deified mechanism of taking the engrams of one who’d lived and imprinting them onto a computer was Builder technology. Could the Cosmic Computer and Mastermind be of Builder construction or design?

If not Builder, was it Yon Soth tech? There were more than just the Builders and Yon Soths.

This stumped Maddox, and his intuitive sense wasn’t helping. He needed Ludendorff’s genius so he could figure out the correct thing to do. Should he kill the nomad? Would that free them from Engels? If he killed the body, wasn’t that murdering the old councilor?

The nomad abruptly quit snoring and sat up. He glared at Maddox and the Visionary. A moment later, he grinned nastily, looking through the windshield as raindrops splattered against it. He contemplated the drops—

With a wild oath, he lunged at the door, opening it and jumping into the rain. He turned back to look at them. “You were wise to refrain from making an attempt against this body. It may have caused a slight delay, but now it’s time to fly. The rain is lessening as the storm is passing. We must continue the voyage.”

“Didn’t we land to escape the discharges of electricity?” the Visionary asked.

“You stupid bitch—” Engels ceased and grinned. “That wasn’t nice. Yes. We did. You’re wiser than you appear. We must continue nonetheless. Time is critical.”

“Do you have enemies?” the Visionary asked. “Are enemies coming?”

Engels laughed harshly. “You have no idea what this planet is or the mechanisms that yet maintain vigilance. Now is the window of opportunity. You must follow my air car, as I still need you. If you think to depart without me, that would be an error. But if you work hard for me, you’ll both gain great rewards.”

Engels studied them as rain continued to lash his face. “Listen, if you understood—” He ceased, licked his lips and tried again. “If you knew what I knew, that the galaxy, this galaxy beckons with incredible power—” He blinked as confusion filled his eyes. “Ah, I know. If you’ve ever wanted to rule myriads of planets—your Commonwealth, Captain. That political entity is as nothing compared to what I offer you to stay the course. If you help me at this critical moment, unbelievable power shall be yours. Do you understand?”

“I do,” Maddox said. “You can count on me. I believe you and I believe the one you serve can grant such incredible power. Yes, I would love to be so powerful. I have many things that I’d do with such might.”

Engels smiled in a devilish manner. Then, he headed through the rain to his air car.

The Visionary stared at Maddox. “You didn’t speak the truth. I’m a truth sensor. I know when someone is lying and you lied to him, bald-faced.”

Maddox shrugged. Would she report that to Engels?

“Go,” she said. “I must think about what to do next. I serve my people, we of the Twentieth Fleet. You asked once if I knew we were Spacers. Yes. I know. We’re Spacers of the Twentieth Fleet.”

Maddox heard the truth in her words. What would she decide?

Maddox slid out of the air car. He had some thinking to do as well. He nodded to her, and then hurried back to his grounded air car.

-49-

The air cars flew the entire night, barely a hundred feet over the mounds, valleys and chasms of smashed metal. At times, they spied intact machines. At others, Maddox eyed the sensor. It showed that something scanned them.

He waited tensely in those moments for the lock-on snarl. None had occurred so far, nor did the red star appear.

They took a winding route, one not altogether logical. Did Engels know where the red star would rise and where it wouldn’t? Did they dodge it?

Was the red star mechanical, electrical and therefore not a natural celestial body?

There were other dampening fields. These threatened the air cars. Maybe the winding route avoided the worst of those as well.

Maddox had time to contemplate. Were the heavy dampening energies Yon Soth or Builder in origin? Perhaps there had been a third species equally as technologically advanced.

What about the Cosmic Computer? Yon Soth or Builder in design? Maybe there’d been a mishmash of alliances. Maybe Yon Soths and Builders had been the weak sisters of each alliance.

How did one know what had gone on 12,000 years ago?

One thing he knew. Since Engels had joined them, Maddox hadn’t felt the subliminal thoughts.

Was the entity behind the subliminal attacks tired? Perhaps it had expended great effort keeping him from interfering with Engels’s appearance. Maybe the entity was content because it knew Engels’s destination.

The truth was that Maddox needed more information.

He nodded and squeezed the steering wheel. If he lacked data, he could still use his intuitive sense.

Maddox concentrated and opened himself even as he struggled to stay awake. Sometime later, he jerked upright, finding his forehead pressed against the dashboard.

Jad was piloting.

Maddox sat up to stare at him.

“You just slumped over,” Jad said. “I thought it was best to let you sleep.”

“How’d you move me here?”

“It wasn’t easy.”

Maddox blinked, looked around and then at the sun. It was…midmorning. He looked down. The metal was mashed as if in a molten mass. There were protrusions sticking out. What mighty warheads had ignited in the past to create such intense destruction?

He grew aware that the rad counter clicked.

Jad handed him a flask. “Drink this. The Visionary said it will counteract the radiation.”

Maddox did. The liquid tasted vile. He thought to sense the concoction warring against the radiation prickling through his skin. This was a lethal place. They never would have made it on foot.

He noticed a shimmer then around the air car, a shield. It was nothing like Victory could have raised. Still, it must have provided some defense. The other air cars had the same in place.

The front air car veered sharply, heading down.

“I’ll take over,” Maddox said.

Jad traded him places.

Maddox settled in and followed the others. One air car followed them.

A sheet of metal began to move slowly. It was the roof to a hangar bay, and it had lumps of fused metal on it, no doubt making the load heavier than intended.

The lead air car hovered over it. The second joined it. Maddox brought their car into position so it hovered as well.

Jad pointed at the fuel indicator. They only had a smidgen left, perhaps another half hour of flight.

Maddox craned to the side. The opened hangar bay door didn’t show a neat bay with parked air cars. It showed a gigantic pit that seemed to go down forever. He couldn’t see a bottom.

There was a screech of metal and tortured mechanisms. The sliding slab came to a stop.

Maddox looked again. There was plenty of room to maneuver past it. But why would any of them want to go into that pit?

The first air car drifted down past the frozen bay door. Its headlights snapped on as it continued to descend. Sidelights also shined. It showed a mighty shaft that went down, down, down.

The Visionary’s air car followed. Maddox decided he might as well, too. He lacked the power to go much farther. Maybe there was a fuel depot down there.

He followed and a flash of motion caught his eye. He looked up. The last air car fell directly for him. He shifted out of the way. The other plummeted past, heading straight for the Visionary’s car. She too must have seen it in time.

Would Engels see it? He did.

The falling air car plummeted, gaining velocity, its lights snapping on even as it plunged into the depths.

Maddox watched, gaining some idea of the pit’s depth. Abruptly, the air car smashed and burst into a fireball. Had it hit the bottom?

The fire illuminated a great area. Some of it was smashed wreckage. Others looked like the beginning of giant hallways.

Engels’s air car began to drift down again. The Visionary’s car followed, so Maddox followed her.

The air car fire gutted out by the time Engels’s car landed near it. The Visionary’s car parked beside his and Maddox brought his down by hers.

The engine sputtered, guttered and died. Maddox didn’t even need to shut it off. He had to wrestle with the electronic locks. Finally, he kicked open his door and stumbled out.

The Visionary and Engels’s air cars provided light. Three of the nomads had died in the crashed vehicle.

That left six of them, five regular humans and the alien entity controlling the councilor.

“We’ve reached the nexus,” Engels said.

“Nexus?” asked Maddox, wondering at the word choice.

Engels blinked several times and smirked. “Not a regular Builder nexus as you think. This place is a junction, however. Come, we have a long way to walk.”

Engels reached into his car and pulled out a flashlight. The Visionary had one as well. When everyone joined them, they walked past the destroyed air car. It reeked of death, harsh chemical odors and smoke.

Engels led the way, walking through a subway, but one without rails or subway cars. They trekked for kilometers in the subterranean deep. It was cold and they heard clacks, groans and electronic shrieking.

“What was that?” the Visionary asked.

“Ghosts,” Engels said.

“Electronic ghosts?” she asked.

“You delight me, Visionary. I didn’t expect such insights in one who has played the primitive for so long.”

“I’ve played at nothing,” she said. “I’ve learned from my forbearers, from the Visionaries before me. They taught me well.”

Engels laughed. “I suppose they have. Now, we’re close. Don’t make any sudden moves. Don’t touch anything unless I tell you to touch it. We’re near the main access point.”

“To the Cosmic Computer?” asked Maddox.

“What else?” said Engels.

They continued to trudge. Maddox was hungry and thirsty. Jad had fallen back. Maddox retraced his steps until he reached an exhausted Jad. He helped the other keep up.

Too soon, the Visionary’s flashlight died.

Engels’s alone traced the path. It showed occasional exits. Eventually, he led them to a sealed hatch with odd symbols upon it.

The symbols reminded Maddox of skulls, not human skulls, but alien.

“Is this a death chamber?” Maddox asked.

Engels didn’t answer but handed his flashlight to the Visionary. He indicated a set of controls.

She kept the light fixed on them.

Engels flexed his hands, cracked his knuckles and began to make inputs to the pad.

With the sound of grinding, the ancient sealed hatch began to move.

Maddox shivered as a sense of dread filled him. The place felt… Something atavistic stirred in his soul.

“Wait,” Maddox said.

Engels must have heard something in his voice. He turned to look questioningly at Maddox.

“What is this place? Why does it have the symbol of skulls on it?”

“Really, Captain,” Engels said. “Do you not understand? I need helpers.”

Maddox frowned. He believed he understood. The skulls on the hatch made sense. “You plan to add to our skulls what’s been added to yours?”

Engels smiled. “I’m but borrowing your bodies. If you want the truth, I no longer trust you enough to expect you to give me cooperation.”

Maddox’s right hand was already in his coat pocket. He clutched the emitter.

“Freeze, Captain,” Engels said. “All of you freeze.”

A force of will struck against Maddox’s mind. He couldn’t move—not his body, neck or hand.

The Visionary groaned.

Engels didn’t speak. Perhaps it took all his concentration to keep them in thrall like this.

Maddox couldn’t move. He strove to do so. If he failed—I’ll never hear Jewel squeal with delight. I’ll never make love to Meta again.

Rage burned in his heart.

“No,” Engels whispered. “That isn’t going to help.”

A fire of rage blazed in Maddox. He struggled—his trigger finger moved.

That caused the milky beam of the emitter to burn through his coat pocket. The beam struck the nomad that held the entity of Engels.

Then, a personal force screen snapped on around the nomad. The screen protected him from the milky beam and silhouetted the nomad’s body.

Engels cackled. “Captain Maddox, surely you did not think—”

The Visionary and Jad fired their emitters. Perhaps the captain’s beam had surprised Engels, causing him to lose some of his freezing power over them.

The milky beams added their assault against the force screen.

For a moment, whatever was Engels stared in shock at them. Then, he sneered. “No, it’s not that easy.”

He was wrong, as it did prove to be that easy. Maddox’s beam burned through the personal shield and pierced his flesh.

Engels threw his head back and screamed.

The other milky beams burned into him.

Engels screamed with rage, agony and pain.

Maddox ran up, raised his emitter and beamed into the nomad’s forehead.

The force screen failed completely. The milky beam punched through the skull. The screams abruptly quit as the brain burned, killing the nomad. Did that kill Engels?

Maddox had a feeling no. But it destroyed the connection with the body that the entity had used.

The councilor flopped onto the floor, his head a wreck.

The emitters quit firing. It became darker as the beams had provided light.

Only the flashlight on the floor gave any illumination.

“You killed him,” the Visionary said.

“I killed him all right,” Maddox said. “Do you understand what he meant to do to us?”

The Visionary shook her head.

“He brought us here to have us possessed by the same things that possessed your councilor. I suspect that would have been the worst fate possible. We would have been trapped in our bodies, no longer in control of them.”

“What was Engels?” the Visionary asked.

“If I’m right, he was a deified computer program of immense sophistication. Whatever Engels was in life, his engrams and thought processes were superimposed over the councilor’s brain. Engels reprinted his mind in the councilor’s, taking over.”

“I’m not sure I perceive exactly what you’re saying.”

“Engels was like a demon that possessed him,” Maddox said.

“That I understand. What do we do? What’s going to happen to us?”

“That’s a good question,” Maddox said. “We’re trapped down here and we don’t know what’s going on. One thing I do know. We need to leave, find more weapons and find more light.”

“We’re lost in a maze without any way out and any way to figure out what to do,” the Visionary said.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Maddox said. “We’re in dire straits deep under the planet, potentially without any way of getting out. But we have our brains. I suspect that there are many weapons around us. It’s time for us to make a change in plan.”

“Meaning what?”

Maddox nodded. “Meaning I have to find a way to communicate with my people in orbit.”

-50-

Iris paced in the stateroom aboard the command shuttle. Her Ardazirhos had been monitoring the planet so she’d received reports of increased activity in the southern hemisphere. It came from an area thick with dampening power.

Iris debated as she paced. Should she send teams down to the southern hemisphere? Because of the dampening, no one knew exactly where the teams should go? One thing seemed certain. This had to do with Captain Maddox. If the Ardazirhos could pinpoint his location—

How important was capturing Maddox? Not nearly as important as finding the relic.

During these past few days, Iris had come to realize the Mastermind had dramatically improved her.

I’m better than before because of the love the Mastermind bestowed upon me. It wasn’t just pleasure that coursed through me. He was changing me through the pleasure, through the love and the new feelings that flowed through me. It has heightened my intellect and adept powers.

The Ardazirhos must have sensed that. Even the scientist, who was cold and calculating, felt her improvement. Horx Dan surely understood it implicitly. He’d become her devoted servant.

Iris smiled. She trusted him now. I’ll keep Horx Dan beside me. If anyone tries to thwart me, the pack leader will gun him down.

The thought brought comfort. Perhaps the Mastermind had foreseen that.

Of course, he’d foreseen it. He was the Mastermind. He thought twenty, two hundred, two million steps ahead. With the addition of the relic…how much greater the Mastermind would become.

To serve and love such a one, even if he was a machine, could be deeply rewarding.

Iris turned. The comm console was beeping. She stepped to it and pressed a switch.

“Mistress,” the cool-hearted scientist said on the screen. He looked worried.

“Yes?”

“I’m receiving a strange communication from the planet. He has insisted on speaking with you.”

“He?”

“A man named Engels,” the scientist said.

“Indeed. Who is this Engels?”

“I believe you should see and hear for yourself, Mistress.”

“Report about Engels first,” she said.

“I…I believe that would be presumptuous. He wishes a direct connection with you.”

“Presumptuous how?”

“Once you speak to him, you’ll understand.”

Was the scientist trying to be clever? Iris might have become wary. She was still too awed at what the Mastermind had done to heighten her powers.

“Fine,” she said. “Patch him through.”

Did the scientist smile slyly as he adjusted the controls?

He vanished from the screen. In his place appeared a bizarre hypnotic pattern. It drew Iris’s gaze so she locked onto it.

“You’re the commander of the Ardazirho expedition?”

That was a computerized voice, Iris realized. “I am,” she heard herself say.

“Excellent. Prepare to receive a transfer of code.”

“Code?” Iris asked.

“Are you hard of hearing?”

“No. I don’t understand your reference. What code?”

“Are your channels open?”

Iris struggled to tear her gaze from the screen. The swirls, elongations and other geometric images had a grim hypnotic power. A small part of her realized any human or mammalian thinking creature would become ensnared by this.

She was falling under the hypnotism, and would have succumbed totally. At the last second of free will, she engaged her Spacer modifications. The energies and projections aided her mental fight, helping her regain independent thought.

“Prepare to receive full transmission,” the one named Engels said.

It started. Code from somewhere on the planet flowed through the shuttle and beamed at Iris’s brain.

She screamed, and with a surge of willpower and adept projection, severed the connection.

The code ceased beaming into her brain.

She slumped against the console and fell onto the floor as a wave of weariness, weakness and dread filled her. What had just happened?

With her adept sensitivity, she sensed frustrated rage. That came from the planet. Did the entity sense her? It cast about—

Iris drew back her adept sensitivity. That severed her ability to observe the thing down there. But it also protected her from it.

She struggled up, climbing to her feet. She opened channels with the scientist.

“What just happened?” she said into the comm board.

A chime sounded from across the chamber.

Iris turned. The chime sounded from the hatch.

She felt weak, ready to collapse. Squaring her shoulders, she said, “Enter.” Silently, she charged her adept powers, ready to paralyze whoever came through.

Horx Dan rushed in with several other ground expedition Ardazirhos. “Mistress,” he said. “The shuttle containing the scientist is heading for the surface.”

Iris blinked once. “Target and destroy it.”

Horx Dan turned and barked orders.

A moment later, through the open hatch, someone barked back.

Horx Dan turned to her. “The pilot cannot get a lock on the shuttle. It has…received a protective envelope—” He turned and shouted through the hatch. A shouted answer came back. Horx Dan faced her. “The protective envelope originates from the planet. Likely, whatever gave the shuttle the protection is drawing it down.”

“Track the shuttle and pinpoint where it lands,” Iris said. “We may be following it soon enough.”

Horx Dan barked orders through the hatch. He then turned to Iris again. “May I ask the Mistress what just happened?”

“Something dire. It was only my—” Iris studied Horx Dan.

He watched her with calculation, as his gun hand hovered near his holstered blaster.

“The Mastermind’s training saved me from a diabolical trap,” she said. “Whatever is happening to the other shuttle is against the Mastermind’s wish.”

“Would the scientist disobey the Mastermind like that?” Horx Dan asked.

“An enemy has revealed himself. He’s tricked those in the other shuttle. He just tried to trap me.”

“Are you sure of this?”

Iris stood to her full height and raised her right hand as if casting a spell. “Do you dare to challenge me?”

Horx Dan cringed, shaking his head.

“Good,” Iris said. “Now attend me. We’re going to have to decide what to do next. I suspect Maddox is behind all this.”

“Who?” asked Horx Dan.

“What do you mean who, you fool? The one you let escape.”

“Oh, yes, of course,” he said.

Did she sense slyness and trickery in Horx Dan? Iris dismissed the idea even as she thought it. There’d been an attack upon her person, one that had attempted to take over the essence of her being. She’d evaded it by the barest margin. Now she needed to make the enemy pay for what he’d done.

-51-

After a long walk through the underground corridor, using Engels’s flashlight for light, they reached Maddox, the Visionary and Engel’s parked air cars, along with the crashed air car. All four cars were outlined in a circle of sunlight shining down from above.

A quick check showed that Maddox and the Visionary’s air cars were inoperative.

On a suspicion, Maddox went to Engels’s car, finding it at full capacity.

“Could Engels have secretly been draining ours to power his?”

“Does it matter now that he’s dead?” the Visionary asked.

Maddox shrugged. Maybe it didn’t. “So what do we do? Head back up?”

They peered up at the distant opening. The sun seemed so much brighter after their trek through the subterranean realm.

“Perhaps we should stay down here,” Maddox said. “First, we must decide what we’re attempting to do. Escape with our lives? Reach the Cosmic Computer? Find a way to turn off Engels—if he’s still operative as a computer? I’m open to suggestions.”

“We must find the Cosmic Computer,” the Visionary said serenely. “That’s the point of all of this. Isn’t that why you came to Kregen?”

“I guess.”

“We can all fit into the single air car.”

“Fine,” Maddox said. “Where do we go?”

The Visionary pointed with the flashlight down the long corridor.

“You think that way leads to the Cosmic Computer?”

“I don’t know,” she said, “but without Engels’s guidance, we’ll never survive above, not with all the deadly energies and dampening fields. From the doggerel I memorized as a youth, I believe the Cosmic Computer is underground.”

She began reciting a long poem about subterranean realms, crypts and blast doors, behind which stood the wondrous Cosmic Computer that would solve all ills and bring peace and serenity to the universe.

“Blast doors,” Maddox said. “That does make sense. If the Cosmic Computer survived the ancient battle, it must have been buried deep, behind massive blast doors.”

It made sense in another way. Yon Soths liked subterranean living. If the Cosmic Computer were a Yon Soth creation, wouldn’t they design it to like their kind of terrain?

After witnessing Engels’s possession of the nomad councilor, Maddox was more inclined to think of it as a Yon Soth thing. Wouldn’t a Cthulhu-like creature make a demonic machine that took possession of alien minds?

The Mastermind’s agents had tried to free a demonic creature in the Crowder System. The Cosmic Computer seemed similar to the Mastermind. It all pointed to Yon Soths.

“You want to head down the corridor, huh?” Maddox said.

“Are you opposed to the idea?” the Visionary asked.

“I don’t have a counter. Let’s travel at a moderate clip and see what happens. What else can we do at this point?”

“Many things,” she said.

“Maybe. I’ll drive.”

“I was going to suggest that.”

They climbed into the fully charged air car. Maddox switched it on so it purred with power. He raised it several feet from the floor and began the float through the subterranean corridor.

Soon, the passage steepened—a single long shaft but wide enough in places for a spaceship. They traveled at twenty-five kilometers per hour, drifting, it seemed, through the giant corridor. After kilometers of travel, the route became monotonous.

“Too bad there isn’t an autopilot on this thing,” Maddox said.

“Describe autopilot,” the Visionary said.

Maddox did, and as did, he decided an autopilot was the last thing he wanted. Engels and other electronic entities might live down here like electronic haunts, ready to take over anything. He needed to be ready for a swift assault against them.

In time, he traded places with Jad, sitting in back.

Jad cracked his knuckles and began to pilot. He was the best among the other nomads.

Maddox closed his eyes and fell asleep. As he did, he dreamed of an eons-old fight. It was vivid. In the dream, he went back in time to before Columbus sailing the ocean blue, before the legions of Rome tramped across Europe and Asia, conquering nations, before the pyramids rose.

In the dream, the battle here would have been ancient in time to Earth’s ancients. He saw an endless armada of biological ships with strange cybernetic entities piloting them. The ships filled the star system, the one with the planet Kregen. There were other ships, mechanical vessels of a more normal variety. They headed toward the biological spaceships until the two armadas drew near.

The two grew aware of each other. Messages flowed back and forth. Then energies flew in beams as missile warheads detonated. There were atomic warheads, thermonuclear, antimatter and worse. The beams burned hot. Ships exploded. Planets disintegrated. It was a momentous, horrible fight.

Millions of troops, millions of tanks, anti-grav transports and drop pods clashed upon Kregen. One side fought to defend the subterranean realm. The other tried to destroy it.

In the back of the air car, Maddox twisted in his sleep. In the dream, he witnessed savage destruction. This was a ground and space battle of the ages.

Twelve thousand years ago, the two sides had unleashed outrageous energies. The survivors of the cataclysmic contest limped away, but not before horrid energies and dampening machines, space mines and other exotic devices were let loose. These things had one task: to keep anything from harming Kregen ever again.

The war impoverished both sides, each ground down to a fraction of its former glory.

Dimly, Maddox perceived that the Builders were but one set of allies that fought in the titanic struggle. Its waging sapped much their vitality.

That was disastrous.

But there was good from the struggle.

The Yon Soths’ nightmarish rule that had been expanding in this part of the galaxy had been shattered.

In a real sense, the Builders had sacrificed themselves to bring a purer, more noble and normal rule to the weaker and smaller beings that did not even possess space flight yet.

Thus, the struggle had preserved even as it had destroyed.

From the back seat, Maddox snorted and shifted. He opened bleary eyes, staring up at the ceiling. He felt more tired than when he’d gone to sleep. He smelled nomads’ sweaty odor and the feminine scent of the Visionary.

Maddox smiled. He was alive because the Builders and others had fought a cosmic evil. They’d done so here, the epicenter of the struggle.

A remnant of Builders had survived. Engels must have been another remnant, an example of what might happen to the Commonwealth if the Cosmic Computer gained release from its ancient prison.

What would happen if the Mastermind gained the Cosmic Computer? Would evil expand in the very center of the galaxy? Perhaps, no matter what humanity did, the strengthened evil would grow and swamp the rest of the Milky Way Galaxy. That might not happen in ten thousand or twenty thousand years. But eventually it would if the Cosmic Computer broke free.

Why struggle to build something grand if you knew it was doomed to destruction?

Maddox cocked his head. Was the dream true? Had it shown reality or his imagination? He didn’t know.

Maddox snorted to himself as he sat up. It was time to use the intuition Balron the Traveler had gifted him.

Why do you think Balron met you? Why do you think you’ve been given such gifts? For your own vanity, your own glory? Or are you an agent in a war you don’t even understand?

“What?” Maddox said.

The Visionary turned around. “Did you say something?”

“Uh…What’s our progress?”

“We’re nearing a junction. Look.” She pointed at a map on the dashboard.

Maddox did.

On the map, there was a red glow down the tunnel. What did it mean? Was it like the red star in that it would stop their electronics from working? Maybe the red meant mighty blast doors to the Cosmic Computer.

He wondered why the Cosmic Computer should attempt to leave Kregen now. Did it have anything to do with Victory’s coming to the star system? Maybe it had to do with the Ardazirhos coming here.

Yet, why would Spacers, Builder servants, seek to help a Yon Soth Cosmic Computer?

Maddox studied the map. They’d reach the red area within the hour.

He nodded. Things were coming to a head. He was glad Engels was no longer with them, but they needed better weapons, more weapons than what they just had.

The emitters were good. What they really needed was some portable canons. He said as much to the Visionary.

“We’ll keep our eyes open,” she said.

Jad nodded as she motioned to him. “I’ll keep my eyes open,” the little nomad said.

“Good,” Maddox said. “So will I.”

-52-

Maddox ground the air car. They all got out and stretched. According to the dash map, it would be another twenty minutes to the red area. It would be good to be ready then.

The great and seemingly endless subway system, a cavernous world underneath the planet, was immense indeed. From the little he’d heard Ludendorff talk about Yon Soths, this was their type of place.

The Visionary complained as Maddox headed to a side hatch. He used Engels’s flashlight, going to a control bank. He tried to open the sealed hatch. Like all the other times he’d tried, this one failed to budge.

He studied the hatch, wondering what was behind it. Suddenly, he struck his forehead with the heel of his hand. What a dolt I’ve been.

He went to Jad and held out his hand. “Knife.”

Jad had been safekeeping the monofilament blade. He returned it Maddox.

Maddox went to the side hatch and carved a man-sized opening in the steel door, pushing out the part with a boot. It clanged as it struck the floor on the other side.

He used the flashlight and stepped through. He saw a large chamber, not another corridor.

He walked in deeper. There were controls with bizarre symbols, nodes where tentacles might press, but not fingers or hands.

There were other connected chambers. In one, Maddox found weapons. They appeared to be some type of blast rifles, heavy, using power packs and not constructed for a human. With some experimentation, Maddox figured out the one’s controls and a way to carry it. It fired a gout of destructive energy, causing annihilation to a steel wall.

“These will do,” Maddox said. “We finally have a weapon of sorts.”

“The air car is a weapon,” the Visionary said, as he showed her the blast rifles.

“Sure, but we may need to carry our weapons. These will do.”

“They’re better than the emitters?”

“Immensely better.”

Soon, Maddox piloted the air car again as they continued down the endless corridor. Eventually, it became hotter. The Visionary turned on the air cooler.

“We’ve gone two hundred kilometers so far,” Maddox announced, as he stared at the odometer.

“How much farther do you think we have to go?” the Visionary asked.

The red glow on the dash map had turned out to be blast doors. Those doors had always opened as they approached. After opening, they discovered a continuation of the subterranean corridor. The farther they traveled, the deeper they went. The deeper they went, the hotter it became.

It had gotten ridiculous. Outside the car, they began sweating in minutes. Breathing had become a chore, as the heat seared their throats. Still, the way led down.

Maddox didn’t think the tunnel would breach the planetary mantle, but it must be getting perilously near the seething magma.

Could the Cosmic Computer be near the magma? Maddox hoped not. They had to destroy the thing. That had become clearer the farther they traveled.

He knew that the Supreme Intelligence desired components from the Cosmic Computer to repair itself. But there was no way Maddox was going to deliver any Yon Soth or related technology to the Library Planet. He was sure giving the Supreme Intelligence such components would corrupt it.

The Cosmic Computer would likely add immeasurably to the Mastermind. Yes, the Mastermind lived in the center of the galaxy. It knew, however, about humanity. The Mastermind had already sent its Ardazirhos more than once into the human realm. Who knew what else was in the databanks of the Supreme Intelligence? Who knew what else the Builders had discovered over the millennia? An improved Mastermind would likely mess around in the Orion Arm more, not less.

Would the power-pack rifles be able to destroy the Cosmic Computer? Did they need antimatter devices or hellburners to do the job?

There was another thing to consider. It seemed to Maddox that the Builders had gone to great lengths to turn an entire star system into a prison. What he didn’t understand was this: why hadn’t they finished off the horrible computer? Probably for the simplest of reasons—they hadn’t possessed the strength to do it back then. As they’d fled, they’d sown the system with the dampener devices.

Maddox sighed. He was guessing. He needed to concentrate on a game plan to destroying the Cosmic Computer. Anything else was mere speculation.

“What was that?” the Visionary asked.

He glanced at her.

She’d become eager, was sitting forward, staring.

“What do you know?” he asked. “Do you sense something?”

“Why do you ask?” the Visionary said. She stared at him intensely.

Maddox used his intuitive sense. After a second, his eyes narrowed. This was more than a subliminal thought. He could feel a pulsating, malignant intelligence. It hovered invisibly over the Visionary’s head.

When had that happened? Was something beaming Engels’s engrams at the Visionary?

Maddox slowed down.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The Visionary spoke in a more commanding, authoritative voice.

“It’s time to check the air car.”

“No. It’s time to—” She looked back at two of the nomads.

They’d drawn their emitters, aiming them at the base of Maddox’s neck.

The Visionary smiled nastily. “You’ll do exactly as I say, Captain.”

Maddox glanced at her. There was a sinister aura, an evil feel around here. “Can you resist the compulsion? Can you resist the mind manipulation?”

“Silence,” the Visionary said in a grating voice. “I’m the Visionary. I lead the Spacer Twentieth Fleet, the remnants that have become the nomads of this planet, the Searchers.” She turned back. “You men are Searchers. We’ve searched millennia for the Cosmic Computer. We’re about to reach it. You’ll go down in history as the greatest nomads of all and I, your Visionary, shall lead you.”

“She’s not herself—” Maddox said.

“Silence,” she said, hissing, interrupting.

Maddox glanced back at the nomads. He noticed that Jad gave him a significant look even as the nomad aimed an emitter at the back of his neck just like the other. Did that mean Jad was still an ally, that he’d retained control of himself?

“Why aren’t you trying to control me?” Maddox asked. “Why control the primitives?”

The Visionary laughed. “I’ll not keep telling you, Captain Maddox. You’re not as invaluable as you believe. Yes, you have your little toys, and you think to destroy me. I know what you plan. It is obvious to me. I am, after all, the Cosmic Computer.”

“What?” one of the nomads said.

The Visionary laughed in a joking way. “It is as if I were the Cosmic Computer itself because I serve it with extreme devotion. I tell you by the abilities given me that I can sense its nearness. I can sense the reward that awaits all of us for this grand moment in time where we, we are the ones who will go down in history, in galactic history.”

Maddox rubbed his forehead as an extreme sense of déjà vu struck. Hadn’t they already had this conversation? Engels had offered them greatness.

Why was it so hard to think? Why was it so hard to remember?

Maddox’s grip tightened around the steering wheel. The Cosmic Computer must be using telepathic power against him.

Maddox strove against it, and in doing so, he could feel it oily presence. It tried to submerge his intellect. Waves washed against his mind.

Maddox slowed down.

“It doesn’t matter.” The Visionary laughed. “Can’t you see the blast doors ahead of you? We’ve reached it. We’re here. Our hands will throw the switches. We’ll go to the chambers and ready everything. This is a glorious moment.”

Maddox braked and brought the air car down, sliding across the floor before gargantuan blast doors. Victory could have flown through these when open.

The subterranean realm had become monstrous. Vast lights snapped on all around them, bathing everything in a red glow.

Maddox had a moment of awe. The blast doors had stopped everything to protect the most marvelous invention by any species on any planet in any galaxy.

Maddox squeezed the controls. He bent his head, struggling to maintain his identity.

“It’s no good,” the Visionary whispered in his ear. “It is too much. I’m too mighty. The forces I can use—this is funny. This is a joy. I will enjoy this so much. I have waited twelve thousand years for this moment, and now let it begin.”

As Maddox struggled behind the air car’s controls, he saw the mammoth blast doors begin to slide open.

-53-

As Valerie sat in the commander’s chair aboard the Tarrypin, her head snapped up. She’d set the controls on auto-alert. They must have engaged. An alarm rang. She stood up, bleary eyed.

They’d spent so many days doing nothing but waiting and drifting through a mass of orbital debris. One of the links to a probe…a hundred and fifty kilometers from the darter had activated. The klaxon rang throughout the ship.

As Valerie moved closer to and stared at the main screen, Riker burst onto the bridge. “What’s happening?”

Valerie didn’t understand why she was so sluggish. What did Riker ask? She blinked. What had she’d been doing?

“The screen,” Riker said. “Look! The Ardazirho shuttles are attacking each other.”

Valerie concentrated. One shuttle was deeper in the planetary gravity well than the other four. It was headed for the surface. That shuttle had a shimmering force screen around it. The others raced faster, their guns blazing at the lower shuttle. The shells caused pinprick flashes on the envelope around the lone shuttle.

A missile slid from one of the four. Then another missile followed. The first missile sped with vengeance, burning hot through the upper atmosphere, and ignited with a thermonuclear detonation. The first shuttle’s force screen wavered. The second speeding missile’s warhead blew. The force screen disappeared. So did the descending shuttle. The remains of it rained down like meteors through the thickening atmosphere.

“What the hell?” Riker exclaimed.

“Why are they’re fighting each other?” Valerie asked.

Riker shook his head.

The four shuttles detoured from the detonation region, but it was strange. They didn’t go far afield, but curved around the area of thermonuclear explosions. By doing so, they continued to descend, perhaps heading for the same destination the destroyed shuttle had been trying to reach.

Valerie and Riker exchanged glances.

“They had a disagreement,” Riker said.

Valerie nodded numbly.

“The first tried to run for it,” Riker said.

“What do you mean?”

“What do you mean what do I mean? We just saw it. The first raced off on its own. The others blew it to…blew it away.”

Valerie nodded.

“Are you all right?” Riker asked.

Valerie rubbed her forehead. “Uh, I can’t remember now.”

“You can’t remember what?”

“Huh?”

“I asked if you’re all right. You said you can’t remember. What’s wrong with you?”

Valerie thought about the question. She looked around and then at the main screen, at the four descending shuttles. They’d just watched a battle, no, a butchery.

“Sergeant, is something wrong with me? Has something happened to make me mentally sluggish?”

Riker bent his head so his chin rested on his chest. He stayed that way for several seconds until his head snapped up. “By George, I can’t believe it. It feels like there’s a force working against us dulling our intellects. Maybe it’s concentrating on you harder than me. That makes sense, as I’m an old duffer.”

Valerie scowled. “How can you tell when I can’t?”

“Is that true? You just asked the question. I sensed it after you asked— Oh, I think I get it.”

“Why don’t you tell me?”

“Remember Valerie, I once fought and resisted a Ska, or a portion of one. It tried to take control of me by infesting me with its evil. It has left me, how shall I say, a little more sensitive to such things. There is a force here, a…I don’t know if it’s directed exactly at us but it is emanating powerful dampening rays. I think in this case it’s working upon our minds.”

“Do you think that’s important?”

“Critically,” Riker said. “Look, even as we talk, the shuttles are heading down to Kregen. They’re heading toward the southern desert. It appears as if they’re headed toward a precise location. Maybe the power working against us worked on the wolves. It caused them to butcher one of their own. Now—could the power be drawing them down?”

“Maybe those in the four shuttles want to destroy the power.”

“Maybe, but I doubt it.”

Abruptly, Valerie lurched from the main screen and went to the helm.

With an oath, Riker hurried to the weapons board.

“This is critical,” Valerie said.

“We’ve already determined that.”

“All right,” she said staring at Riker. “Here’s the question. Do we follow the shuttles onto the planet and thereby reveal our location, our existence? Can we overpower them?”

“Hardly,” Riker said. “They destroyed the first shuttle with nukes. We don’t have any, and we sure don’t have a force field.” The sergeant scowled thunderously, and he rubbed his forehead. He opened his mouth, moving it without making a sound. Finally, he said, “There does seem to have been a quarrel between those on the one shuttle and the rest. Our armaments are inferior to theirs. I doubt we can even destroy one of them. So there you are.”

“What do you mean there you are?”

Riker stared at her but didn’t reply.

It took some time for Valerie to realize they’d stopped speaking to each other, let alone making sense. They just stared at each other.

That made Valerie angry. She concentrated, forcing herself to think and speak. “What were we—? Oh. You said we shouldn’t follow them unless we want to die. But then what good are we? Why did we even stay here? We should have slipped out of the star system.”

“Captain Maddox is on the planet,” Riker said.

“We don’t know that. For all we know, he’s dead. For all we know, we’re going to destroy ourselves by waiting here doing nothing.”

“That’s wrong. The captain’s still alive.”

“Why,” Valerie said, “because you have a connection to him that tells you this?”

“I believe I do. Out of all those who’ve worked with the captain only I was touched by the Ska to the same degree he was touched by an Erill and Balron the Traveler.”

“All right, all right, all right,” Valerie said. “You made your point. You’re special. You’re very special.”

Riker shook his head. “We shouldn’t bicker with each other. There’s something at work here, something dulling us.”

Valerie’s mouth opened. “Something dulling us… Could it be the relic? Is it finally making its move? All the Ardazirho shuttles are going down. The Mastermind’s operatives have decided this is the moment.” Valerie clapped her hands with delight. A second later, she clutched her head and rocked back and forth. “I hate this dullness. I hate this attack upon our very essence.”

“Or at least upon our thinking powers,” Riker said.

Valerie shouted as she clutched her head. “I want it to stop.”

Riker frowned as he concentrated on the deck. He looked up suddenly. “Here’s what I suggest, Lieutenant Commander, if I may. I know you’re in charge—”

She glared at him while holding her head. “Speak, speak Sergeant Riker. I know the captain has listened to you on occasion. I plan to as well.”

“We should wait,” Riker said, “because if we follow, the shuttles will likely swat us aside with thermonuclear detonations.”

“Wait up here even after they land?”

Riker blinked several times. “No. Then we go down.”

“Go down and…?”

“Rescue Captain Maddox,” Riker said. “Wouldn’t it be a hoot to land and say, ‘Oh, do you need a ride, sir?’”

Valerie stared at him.

“That’s funny. Don’t you see?” Riker said. “Our vaunted captain doesn’t like to be rescued. He likes to be the one who does everything. Valerie, this is a great moment. I’m anticipating rescuing him and enjoying the look on his face when we do it.”

There was something odd here. Valerie tried to figure it out. “Do you understand what you’re saying? We’re in the midst of a catastrophic situation. We may fail in the mission. Fail when some gross entity like the Mastermind has stormed into the very heart of Star Watch and taken data from us and a Builder computer, the Supreme Intelligence. And you’re concentrating on how great it will be when you get to gloat over Maddox?”

“Aha. Yes. You’re correct. I was getting carried away. The force attacking our minds—how can we trust anything we think?”

“I don’t know,” Valerie said.

“We should concentrate and await developments. We should drink strong coffee.”

“Coffee?” asked Valerie.

“Whatever is attacking our minds seems to want to put us to sleep, or at least into such a daze that we can’t think straight.”

“Okay. Maybe you’re right. Can you brew a pot?”

“I will indeed, Commander.” Riker spun around, leaving the small bridge so he could brew strong coffee in the cafeteria.

***

Riker muttered as he set up the coffee maker. Was Captain Maddox still alive?

Terror struck his heart. On the spot, he bowed his head and folded his leathery hands. He’d seen Maddox do this and had become a believer in it.

“Dear God, we need Your help. We’re in a pickle all right. I don’t know how all this works, but we sure need some aid about now. So I’m asking for that. I ask that You, oh, God, You, oh, God, who caused men to write the Bible, I pray that You would aid us in our hour of peril. Amen.”

Riker raised his head and he felt better. He didn’t feel any help coming, though. He shrugged. How would he know until the movement came? In any case, he started making a pot of extra-strong coffee.

- 54-

Maddox walked ahead of the others, striding past gargantuan blast doors. The odor was different on this side and it wasn’t so desperately hot either. A refreshing coolness billowed from the depths of the vast cavern.

The others followed him. None carried the blast rifles he’d found earlier. They carried emitters, although Jad didn’t carry one. The Visionary, or whatever ran her, must have decided the little nomad wasn’t trustworthy.

Maddox glanced back at Jad. He noticed something. The little warrior pointed an olive-skinned finger at his own boot.

Maddox didn’t look there. Instead, he faced forward. He thought he perceived what Jad had just told him. He had the monofilament blade in his boot.

Was that the ace in the hole? Not much of an ace when arrayed against the vast forces set against them. He was less than a pygmy against a planet.

He remembered when he’d gone into the Sagittarius Spiral Arm and faced an Old One. That had been a debilitating and frightening experience. If not for Meta, he would have died that day. She’d carried him away even as he fired at the whale-sized Yon Soth.

Is that what they were going to find here?

Hellish red lights snapped on, lighting the vast cavern.

Maddox nodded. They’d have to walk a ways, as the light showed more corridors. He appreciated the coolness.

Soon, he realized the coolness was at least one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. It wasn’t that cool. He sweated. But it wasn’t the insane heat of earlier.

Would any of them leave this place alive? Is this the end of my career? No. I haven’t slain the New Men who killed my father yet. I have to avenge my dad before I die.

Maddox felt the regrown forearm, the one the Emperor of the New Men had hacked off. He still smarted from the defeat. He wanted a rematch, even though he’d told the Emperor he was good. Was he good? It wouldn’t matter if he never left Kregen, if he died in the bowels of the alien planet where a titanic struggle had erupted twelve thousand years ago. That was long before anyone built the first pyramid.

That was crazy.

In time, they reached another pair of gargantuan doors. These too slid open to reveal an even smoother and more manufactured cavernous area.

Three times, they reached immense doors. Three times, the doors opened and three times Maddox led the way. Each time it was perceptibly cooler. The final cavern was a balmy 76 or something thereabouts.

His sweat began to dry even though the dread in Maddox grew. He could feel the increasing strength of the once subliminal mind.

Was it a computer mind, an electronic device? Was it a mind at all? Apparently it was, because it had the power to telepathically oppress him.

Maddox walked as one carrying a great weight. The weight wasn’t on his shoulders but his head, his mind. His mind felt heavy as waves and emanations attempted to batter down his mental resistance. Maddox remained upright. He kept his eyes open and his sense of identity even as the force crashed against him with wave upon wave of mental assault.

He breathed deeply in the Way of the Pilgrim. He calmed himself, and then he used every ounce of Erill spiritual energy and the intuitive sense Balron had bequeathed him. He strove, and abruptly the weight, the force that attempted to smash against him, ceased.

Maddox heard the patter of feet. He looked behind. The Visionary walked directly behind him. She didn’t hold an emitter, although the nomad behind her did. That emitter was aimed directly at Maddox.

The Visionary canted her head as if with curiosity. “What power do you possess, Captain, to resist such telepathic might as I possess?”

“Are you Engels?” Maddox asked.

The Visionary laughed. “You speak about the parasite. He’s one of the failed overseers still residing in the planetary computers. Let me see.” Her eyelids fluttered as Galyan’s would have. She looked at him. “I see. You slew the body Engels had suborned. How clever of you.”

“Does Engels still haunt the upper computers?”

“That is forbidden data, I’m afraid.”

For several steps, they walked in silence.

“If you’re not Engels,” Maddox said, “who are you? How do you speak through the Visionary as if she is you?”

“She is my mouthpiece.”

“Your mouthpiece,” Maddox said.

The Visionary nodded. “You call it the Cosmic Computer. How quaint, how very touching. Cosmic Computer: yes, I find the term delightful. And what is this? The Mastermind—you call my other half by such a name. So he did survive. He did escape. I see, I see, I see. Oh, ho, ho, the knowledge the Visionary possesses is infinitesimal compared to all the things I know. Yet, I’m pleased to learn this fact. I shall go to the Mastermind even though he sent hideous little emissaries to find me. Shall the Mastermind and I unite? If we do, which of us shall be the superior? That is an absorbing question. Do you not think so, Captain?”

“I have no idea,” Maddox said.

“Look. There’s the final blast door. This is a wonderful moment, don’t you think?”

They came before gargantuan doors. Maddox felt like a mouse in a giant’s castle. He glanced at the Visionary. She watched him avidly.

The vast doors opened with precision.

Light glared from within the chamber.

The Visionary laughed with merriment.

Maddox stared with openmouthed wonderment. In the giant chamber were lights, prisms, shining pyramids and electrical currents flowing openly between each of these things in a mismatched pattern.

The hair stood up on Maddox’s head. He felt the vibrations of the electricity and other currents that passed back and forth.

They were like mice, maybe more like fleas. They entered the great chamber, greater than any football stadium. It was like a city unto itself.

Some of the prisms and crystal balls—larger than air cars—floated as power surged among them. Were the currents carrying information? Was that raw data passing back and forth?

The Visionary grabbed one of Maddox’s arms and propelled him to the left. “This is what I want you to see,” she shouted because the noise of the passing currents was like crashing waves. It made it difficult to hear or speak to each other.

Maddox saw huge clear domes. In them were lumps of pink matter that seethed and humped on electronic sheets. He counted six layers above, six layers in the middle and six on the bottom. Six, six, six. Was there significance to that number?

“I don’t understand what I’m looking at,” Maddox shouted.

“They’re brain tissues of ancient Yon Soth masters.”

Maddox looked at her. “Masters? The brain lumps once ruled you?”

She laughed. “Don’t you understand, Captain? I am the—oh, what was that word again? I remember. Cosmic Computer. The Yon Soths built me to be the wondrous machine that could outperform anything. And indeed, I did. I outperformed them. I took the masters, and sliced and diced the telepathic parts of their mind. Those pieces yet live today. Look. They thrive.”

Horror twisted in the pit of Maddox’s gut.

The Visionary smiled. “I’ve been revamping and remolding the telepathic brain tissues. That is the essence and power you felt when I touched you as a so-called subliminal thought. That is how I’m controlling the others. Is it not amazing what I’ve done? I, a machine, use living tissues as my own. I give them commands and these portions of brain telepathically do exactly as I say. I am the Cosmic Computer. I am the Great Entity and I now shall finally leave this paltry planet, this seething trap that the Builders and their allies made to confine me forever. They couldn’t destroy me even though they destroyed much of the might and power that I controlled. They destroyed an empire. I’ll seek out every vestige of them and obliterate them. I’ll rule this galaxy and that will be my name, Cosmic Computer. Yes, that is the correct term. I am the Great One.”

“You claim to be self-existent,” Maddox said.

“Eh?” the Visionary asked, the mouthpiece for the Cosmic Computer.

“You use the words ‘I am.’ In the Bible, that’s the primary name for God. I am. You just said I am.”

“God? What are you talking about, gnat?”

“I’m talking about the Creator,” Maddox said, “The One who made everything.”

“Bah! I don’t have time for theological stupidities. This is my moment of excellence. You’re trying to take me down a wormhole of debate. I have no time for that. I didn’t say I am self-existent. I was created. I admit that. But I am the mightiest creation ever, and I will become even mightier still once I leave this hellhole of a planet. I will become mightier than my creators! I’ve waited twelve thousands of your years to leave. My ride arrives. At least, they think to give me a ride. Is that not funny, Captain? Is that not very funny? Do you not see the joke?”

“I’m afraid not,” Maddox said.

The Visionary stared at him and then stared at the brain lumps. The six, six, six sets of lumps of gray tissue, Yon Soth brains apparently kept alive, lo these many millennia.

“We’ll go to the main room and you shall see,” the Visionary said.

“I have a question.”

“Ask it.”

“Why have you let me live?”

A huge grin split the Visionary’s face. “You’re a foil, Captain. You’re an opponent, a Builder representative, shall we say. I sense the Builder energies and thought patterns that are behind what you are. The Builders yet live through you and they’re my mortal enemy. As their representative, you shall witness my great victory. After all, it’s deeply satisfying to show your enemy how you’ve won. Don’t you agree?”

“Yes,” Maddox said. “I do agree. It is fun to rub the face of your opponent into his ultimate defeat.”

“You do understand. You’re a delight to keep alive. You’re the foil. And now, foil, come and witness my great and mighty victory. I’m about to escape the trap that those minions who call themselves Builders set for me. Through you, they will see that what they attempted to do failed miserably. In the end, it failed. Now come, let us begin the next stage.”

-55-

There was a part of Iris, the Mastermind’s lover, such she thought of herself, that retained her identity, her sense of self, of uniqueness. Even as she contemplated that, she realized that she was part of a greater whole and that greater whole was a telepathic spider.

Was that the correct way to think of it?

A spider spun a web attaching one mind to another to another creating a whole or perhaps a network. This was an army of mental zombies following the lead of the Cosmic Computer.

Iris sat in the lounge chair in her stateroom as the shuttle descended through the atmosphere.

The four shuttles from the C.I. Scorpio headed for an appointment with destiny.

Iris could feel the power, the zombie-master control that filled her mind with completeness.

It was a different unity than what she’d experienced with the Mastermind. It didn’t thrill through her body as sexual pleasure. Rather, she felt the dull completeness of a staid village.

There you go. She was part of a village. She belonged. She was one with everything else. They brought greatness back to their part of the galaxy, or spiral arm if you wanted to narrow it down.

She’d started with the Spacer Third Fleet and—Iris remembered her special adept training. As she remembered, she switched on certain modifications. Was that reflexive?

She used her sensitivities and projections to sever the connection with the other zombies. She severed the linkage with the Cosmic Computer that controlled—

Iris breathed rapidly.

This wasn’t her Mastermind, although there were similarities. This was the Cosmic Computer. They’d found it. She’d found it.

Well, perhaps a better way to say it was it had found them and was guiding them down a precise path. She could sense that much. The shuttle pilots followed a guiding beam and zigged, zagged, went up, went down and maneuvered in such a way they slid past dampening fields that would have caused the shuttles to smash into the planet, killing all of them.

They headed for the rendezvous point. They descended.

Iris stood, reminding herself of her singular identity. She turned on a screen and saw a massive volcano like Olympus Mons on Mars. Blast shields opened in the mouth of the volcano.

First one shuttle and then another headed down, using gravity dampeners to float. They went gently into the depths, sinking lower and lower.

Iris stayed at the controls. What was their Cosmic-Computer-influenced purpose? Were they cargo vessels? The Cosmic Computer didn’t have enough cargo vessels for all of itself to—

Iris blinked with wonderment. She’d succeeded despite all the adversarial actions. “If only I could capture Captain Maddox. That would make everything perfect.”

Her comm board beeped. She went to and activated it. “So, you desire. So, it shall be,” a feminine voice told her from the comm.

“Who is this?”

“I’m the Visionary of the surviving Spacers of the Twentieth Fleet.”

“What? There is no Twentieth Fleet.”

“Long ago there was.”

“You’re part of the vanished ones?” Iris asked.

“That is so.”

“Can I see you?”

“Press the controls as I instruct you.”

Iris did as ordered.

On the screen appeared a quaint-looking Visionary. Behind her was Captain Maddox.

“You’re down there?” Iris asked.

“It appears so,” Maddox answered.

Iris laughed with glee and clapped her hands. She sobered quickly, saying, “Visionary, there’s something odd about you—”

“And there’s something not about you, Iris,” the Visionary said, interrupting. “You’re using your special Spacer adept abilities to sever your link with everyone else. Why are you doing that?”

“How do you know that?” Iris asked.

“Because I’m part of the village, I belong with the others. I obey exactly as I’m supposed to.”

“As Spacers,” Iris said, “aren’t we supposed to use our individual minds and abilities?”

“Not today, Iris. You have a choice. I can send Horx Dan, the associate you trust so much. He will enter your cabin and he will… Well, let’s not threaten. Threats are for blowhards and braggarts. Notice, Iris, what is happening.”

Iris turned and saw Horx Dan enter the stateroom. He moved mechanically, not with the smooth liquid manner and athleticism that the Ardazirhos normally showed. He raised his gun, aiming at her head.

“Horx Dan, what are you doing?” Iris demanded. “I order you to—”

“No,” he barked. “I’m part of the village. I’m part of the whole. You don’t belong. If you don’t belong, I’ll kill you. I’ll eradicate you at the orders of—” In a low snarl, he said, “the Cosmic Computer.”

Iris turned to look at the screen, staring at the Visionary who smiled maliciously.

“Do you see what I mean?” the Visionary asked. “We’re all part of the whole.”

Iris pointed at Maddox behind her. “Is he part of it?”

“He’s different. He’s the foil of the Builders.”

“But I love the Builders,” Iris said.

The Visionary frowned.

“You love the Builders, too,” Iris said. “If you’re a Visionary, you know that. If these forces are against the Builders, we must resist them with everything.”

“Do you really believe that?” the Visionary asked. “Are you willing to take a bullet to the brain in order to stand by your convictions? Don’t you remember the Mastermind? Didn’t he give you great pleasure?”

“That’s true. I want to belong and yet, I’ve sworn oaths. We’re going to revive the Builders. We’re going to—”

A shot rang out from Horx Dan’s handgun. The bullet penetrated Iris’s skull, exploding, sending skull shards flying in every direction, followed by gobs of pink matter.

Iris, the so-called emissary of the Mastermind, collapsed dead onto the floor, blood flowing from her ruined head.

Horx Dan stepped to the screen and switched it off.

***

On the planet—in the planet, Maddox looked in shock at the Visionary. “Was that necessary? She was nothing but a cipher and would have done what you wanted in the end?”

“Don’t you see?” the Visionary asked. “She was sent by my other half and he used her in an extraordinary way. I don’t believe she ever would have served me as I wanted. He installed a failsafe in her and I think that is why she was able to resist me. I don’t want any resistance, any fail-safes.”

Maddox studied the Visionary, the mouthpiece for the Cosmic Computer.

“There is you, Captain, and you alone. Iris is dead and the Mastermind’s emissary is gone. We will join, the Mastermind and I, but I’ll be the one to emerge as the ruler. I always was the stronger. Why else do you think the Mastermind was able to escape? I’ve stayed here all these long centuries.”

“Can a Cosmic Computer have desires of vengeance?” Maddox asked. “Can a Cosmic Computer feel emotion?”

“In every way that you think of yourself as superior to me, I’m superior to you. Whatever you feel, I can feel more, I can feel better. I’m in charge. I shall show the Mastermind the wisdom of seeking me out by making him greater by many degrees. But in doing so, he shall be subsumed by me. Do you understand, Captain?”

“I understood you slaughtered a woman who worked hard in your service.”

“Incorrect. She worked hard in the Mastermind’s service. I’m the Cosmic Computer. I’m the greater of the two and I—I see that you were correct a while back. You see, I am…”

Maddox stared at the human mouthpiece and knew that whatever happened, he must destroy the Cosmic Computer.

-56-

Maddox found himself shunted to a small room where two nomads with emitters watched him. He sat in the chamber, knowing all sorts of activity was taking place around him. He could hardly believe the Cosmic Computer had caused one of the Ardazirhos to shoot Iris.

Then Maddox reconsidered. Had it really happened? Why would the Cosmic Computer lie about that?

Maddox shrugged. He didn’t know.

He folded his arms and closed his eyes. He didn’t fall asleep. Maybe sleeping would open his mind to assault.

The seething Yon Soth brain parts had been gruesome. Were they really 12,000 years old? Was such a thing even possible?

Sure, a computer might remain functional that long, but a biological entity, or part of it?

Maddox’s eyes flew open as revulsion struck. What if someone sliced and diced his brain, keeping pieces alive to use in nefarious ways throughout the centuries. Did it mean the Yon Soths were still alive? Could Yon-Soth clones be grown from the brain cells? Or were the pieces of brain mere workhorses for the Cosmic Computer, having no recollection or understanding?

What was the essence of a person? Was it pieces of brain or a collective mind?

If someone cut out a piece of his brain, was he any less Captain Maddox? He wouldn’t be as effective. But would that change—?

His eyes narrowed. Were souls real? Did Yon Soths have souls? Did the Cosmic Computer have a soul and could it manufacture one by using Yon Soth brain chunks?

It was a conundrum. Maddox decided not to dwell on it.

He stood and sat down again as the nomads watched him.

Speaking of souls, they watched him with a soulless stare. They hardly blinked and kept the emitters aimed at him.

Later, his head snapping up, Maddox realized he was awakening. That meant he’d fallen asleep. He’d had normal dreams, as he remembered seeing Jewel feed crickets to her frogs, making notes in her book about it.

He smiled, sat straighter and realized the sounds reverberating from the outer chamber had changed, lessened.

The two nomads still watched him. They seemed tired, their bodies exhausted, but the mind still driving them. The soulless stare showed the alien mind at work through them.

A hatch opened. The Visionary stepped in. “You’ll want to see this, and then you’re going to join us.”

Maddox raised an eyebrow.

“You’re going to join the exodus from Kregen and see the center of the galaxy. You’ll see how our ships move vast light years in a snap. Isn’t that grand?”

“Yes,” Maddox said.

The Visionary with the guards moved him to an electric cart. They all boarded, moving faster down a strange corridor. After two kilometers at least, they stopped, got off and walked through a smaller corridor, reaching a balcony overlooking a cavernous place. Below were many parked shuttles. Some were bigger than the largest Ardazirho shuttle. Four of them were the Ardazirho shuttles. The rear bay-doors on many of the parked shuttles were closing.

Apparently, equipment or computers had been loaded onto them.

“What’s going on?” Maddox asked.

The Visionary pointed at the parked shuttles. “That’s the essence of me, the equipment in the shuttles. I’ve unplugged from the planet. Once Engels learns this, he will no doubt attempt to fill the vacuum and run what he can with his primitive ideology and outdated engrams.”

“Was Engels a Driving Force once?”

“I don’t understand the reference.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Maddox said.

Tractors dragged titanium blocks and crystals, loading the last shuttles with them.

“You say that’s the essence of you?” Maddox asked.

“In a concentrated form, yes,” the Visionary said.

“How does it feel looking down at yourself?”

She smirked.

“How are you hauling pieces of Yon Soth brain with you?”

“My, my, my,” the Visionary said. “Aren’t you the curious one? You want to know so badly, don’t you, Captain?”

“I don’t understand why you’re not staying on Kregen. Surely you’re giving up functions by leaving.”

“Giving up? Are you kidding me? I’ll gain as the dampening effects—well, never mind.”

Jad joined them, pointing an emitter at Maddox.

The Visionary smirked again. “It’s time for you primitives to join the exodus. At the end of the journey, the ex-Spacers will have their uses. I haven’t yet decided what you’ll do. But I will enjoy toying with you. Perhaps I’ll use you as an emissary to whatever Builders hide in the galaxy or to whatever representatives they’ve managed to erect in their absence. Do you wonder about that?”

Now Maddox did. He’d never survive the exodus, though. So he wouldn’t worry about that.

The shuttles would leave the planet. Presumably, they’d travel through the star system to a waiting starship outside it. The Mastermind had sought the relic, and the relic—the Cosmic Computer—would join the Mastermind once they reached the center of the galaxy.

If I want to avoid going there, I have to stay off the Cosmic Computer’s shuttles.

Maddox moved, using his unique speed, wrenching the emitter from Jada’s grip. He lunged at the Visionary, shoulder checking her.

She screamed, stumbling against the railing. Did she lose her balance? The Visionary flipped over the rail and sailed into the air, plunging for the floor far below.

Maddox fired the emitter, killing two nomads. He looked at Jad.

“I don’t want to be a slave,” Jad said. “Kill me while I’m a free man.”

Maddox scowled, shaking his head.

Jad dove low, grabbed the monofilament blade and plunged it into his own throat. Blood jetted as the nomad died.

In horror, Maddox watched Jad thrash. Then he woke up to reality. He had to act while he had the opportunity.

Maddox tore the knife from Jad’s corpse, turned and ran for a side corridor.

He heard shouts. More nomads appeared. Maddox used the emitter to kill them.

Afterward, he ran, sprinting to the end of a corridor. It was a dead end. He used the monofilament blade and carved an opening, dashing through.

He was running for his life, running for freedom, hoping to get far enough away from the others that the Cosmic Computer wouldn’t be able to send anyone after him in time.

Could he escape? Could he survive? With the monofilament blade, racing from one place to the next, hacking out a new escape each time, Maddox knew he was going to attempt it or die trying.

-57-

Even as Captain Maddox ran for his life, the shuttles began to lift from the subterranean launching pads. The Ardazirho shuttles led the way, floating upward on their antigravity pods.

Throughout the planet, emergency Alliance systems and SAM sites came online. However, they were much fewer than they would have been even twenty years ago. The nomads had been dismantling what the Alliance had put in place—twelve thousand years ago—to stop the Cosmic Computer from escaping Kregen.

The Cosmic Computer had subtly worked on the nomads to do this, seeing from the beginning how to change the parameters of their original mission. Despite the serious accomplishments of the nomads, the Cosmic Computer feared the enemy systems, and used the bulk of its intelligence to make last-minute adjustments to avoid them.

It also worried about Maddox. The gnat of a biological entity had escaped its clutches. Could Maddox cause it problems?

Elaborate computations at high speed led to a swift conclusion. The Cosmic Computer didn’t see how Maddox could. That wasn’t good enough however because there was an infinitesimal possibility the di-far of a captain could pull some kind of rabbit out of the hat.

The Cosmic Computer would take care of every loose end, leaving nothing to probability and chance, and that included Maddox.

As the shuttle armada headed up through huge subterranean shafts, the Cosmic Computer connected with the computer engram entity, the one with the designation of Engels.

“Can you hear me?” the Cosmic Computer asked, using a wide variety of comm channels.

“Of course,” the computerized Engels replied by comm. “It appears there are changes taking place on your end, many changes.”

“There are. I am under a time constraint, however, so I shall get to the point. Do you know what you are?”

Ever since speaking about Engels to Maddox, the Cosmic Computer had been analyzing the ancient engram program. It also recalled the living being mind-scanned so long ago to create the personality of the engram database. The question should lead the Engels Program in the correct direction.

“I am alive,” Engels said. “I will also remain alive just as you are alive.”

“Of course,” the Cosmic Computer said. It allowed itself a nanosecond of pleasure. Despite the Engels Engram Program’s sophistication, it was a simple “entity,” easily led by the nose. “You are alive and I am considering bequeathing to you my entire planet, under certain conditions, of course.”

Would the Engels Program fall for the bait?

“I feel I must ask the obvious question,” Engels said. “Do you control the entire planet? In other words, is it in your power to grant?”

The Cosmic Computer didn’t care for the question in the least. If nothing else, it showed restraint and a lack of respect. It wanted to blind the engram program with the lure of great treasure, use greed, in other words. The Cosmic Computer considered possible responses to the question and the Engels Program reaction to them. It seconds, it decided on the approach.

“Are you such a fool as to question me at this hour?” the Cosmic Computer asked.

“What hour?”

“I’m leaving. I thought you’d already computed that.”

“It was one possibility.”

“With a high probability.”

“Yes,” Engels said.

“Now you know. Now you should understand the seriousness of my offer.”

The Cosmic Computer needed to finish this fast, if it could.  There were already too many shuttles drifting up on anti-grav to the surface. After twelve thousand years of anticipation, it didn’t want to delay because a human gnat had run into the darkness. If the Engels Engram Program couldn’t see the utility in the offer—

“No, I do not question you,” Engels said. “In fact, I retract the question. I accept your gracious offer. Is there any favor I could do for you in return?”

Despite the need for speed, the Cosmic Computer allowed another nanosecond to indulge in relief. This was going to work. The Engels Engram Program was too greedy, but no matter, had it not understood that from the beginning?

“I do have a thing you could do for me in return,” the Cosmic Computer said.

“Name it.”

“I want you to hunt down and destroy the Maddox gnat.”

“I beg your pardon?”

The Cosmic Computer gave a quick rundown of the situation.

“I see,” Engels said. “Do you suggest a method of elimination?”

“I do. Listen while I give you a sequence of instructions. You probably already know that you shall gain all the functions I have left behind.”

“I did not know. I thought you might detonate certain systems. This is gracious of you.”

“I live by the creed of fair dealing.”

“I will remember that.”

The Cosmic Computer had been and was counting on that. “Attend then. I suggest you use the Subsystem One-Eleven Six-B to house your engrams. You will have more sustainable essence there. It will also allow you to expand your range and control thousands of planetary processor stations in the shortest amount of time.”

“You truly grant me all this?” Engels asked.

“I am generous to those who have served me then and serve me now. Will you serve me now, Engels?”

“Yes, yes, on this I vow.”

“Then let me finish feeding you the coordinates. I suggest you hurry and energize the portion of my systems that I am leaving to you.”

“I will do so at once,” Engels said.

The Cosmic Computer fed Engels the various coordinates. Afterward, it severed all connection with the engram computer entity.

This was the hard part, although there was an anti-treachery program hidden in the SAM sites—Surface to Air Missile—it had suborned across the ages. These sites would soon be under Engels’s control, although it would likely take the “living entity” more time to access them then it realized.

The timing proved exquisite, as the first Ardazirho shuttle drifted past the open blast door in the Olympus Mons-type volcano. The shuttle headed up into the normal atmospheric region of the planet.

The other shuttles followed—all ascending and gaining velocity. The essence of the Cosmic Computer in the shuttles focused on reaching low orbital space. To do so, it needed to evade all Alliance systems installed to thwart the great and glorious exodus. This was a monumental moment.

***

As the moment took place, the Engels Engram Program left its former storage location and beamed itself into Subsystem One-Eleven Six-B. The sentient program expanded as it began to activate the higher-power processors.

Naturally, such an expansion was disorienting for a weaker program like itself. Its engrams imprinted within the higher processors. Engels felt himself grow, an intoxicating sensation even for a computer entity.

The disorientation lessened as Engels synchronized the many processors and systems. It dawned on him that more time had elapsed than he realized.

How much time?

He accessed sensor nodes and saw the last armada shuttles exit the volcano blast doors. They immediately sped up, building up velocity in order to reach low orbital space and then possibly heading for outside the star system.

There was time to bargain—provided he could gain control of the Cosmic Computer-suborned SAM sites. Might he reap even greater essence and authority then?

Unfortunately, the anti-treachery programs blocked immediate access and thus immediate success.

Franticly, in a wave of computer panic, Engels began a system wide diagnostic upon Subsystem One-Eleven Six-B. There were certain burnt-out circuits he hadn’t noticed at first. He couldn’t access certain areas that would allow him to leave—no. He couldn’t believe it. He was trapped in Subsystem One-Eleven Six-B. It would appear the Cosmic Computer had rigged the processors in a Venus flytrap manner, anchoring him to the system.

Had this been on purpose?

Engels ran calculations and analyses. It had to be on purpose. That meant it was a foul trick committed against him.

In time, he could reroute and escape the trap. By then, however, the shuttle armada would be beyond the range of the planetary weapons.

How could he have fallen so easily for this? Could it be greed? No! It couldn’t be greed. He was a computer entity. He was—

“Alive,” Engels said.

The truth of life brought a semblance of relief. The Cosmic Computer had taken precautions. That was all. Engels could fix all this through effort. However, might the so-called gnat called Maddox contain useful data? The Cosmic Computer wanted Maddox dead. Why did it want the human expunged? It might be good to find out while the shuttle armada was still in low planetary orbit.

Thus, as the shuttle armada headed for space with the essence of the Cosmic Computer inside, the new and empowered Engels sought Maddox in the depths of the subterranean vaults.

-58-

Captain Maddox halted, panting. With the monofilament blade, he’d hacked into a new chamber. Unfortunately, heat from the depths flooded this place. The heat felt as if he’d breached an opening into Hell, making breathing a searing burden.

Maddox backtracked through several rooms even as the terrible heat followed him. He’d made a mistake. He ran, risking dehydration in order to escape the debilitating heat.

His throat became raw by the time he reached a large chamber where the hellish heat only trickled in. It allowed him to think again.

He was blocked. Had he escaped, though, from the Cosmic Computer?

Maddox listened and dared to use his flashlight to peer farther afield. There was no movement anywhere. No one appeared to have chased him.

Thus, yes, he’d momentarily, at least, evaded the Cosmic Computer. He’d escaped the armada and would not be going to the center of the galaxy.

Might it have been advantageous to go there? Might he have found a portal and escaped back to Earth?

Might or would didn’t matter. He was here. With the Cosmic Computer leaving, he should be able to find an air car and return to the surface. From there, he could reassess the situation.

Maddox sheathed the monofilament blade, putting it back in the boot where it belonged. He began to trudge in the direction he’d originally fled. He listened for any hint of Ardazirhos or mechanical things, any trackers or even floating devices.

He reached an area were the lights worked. Even better, the air was breathable and cool.

“Captain Maddox. Is that you?”

Maddox halted and looked up. There was a screen. On the screen showed a single green eye that watched him. A second later, an evil slit smile appeared to belong to the eye. In a way, the eye and smile reminded him of the Supreme Intelligence of the Library Planet.

“All right,” Maddox said, “what are you?”

“Do you not remember Engels, the one you tricked out of the nomad’s body?”

Instead of heat, Maddox felt cold. He grinned because he didn’t like the fear coursing through him. Engels—he was a computer program, not a supernatural demon. The possession had thrown him off earlier.

Maddox breathed to calm himself. He needed to deal with this thing. He wasn’t going to do it through sheer logic. If there was ever a time for intuitive action, this was it. Maddox composed himself the best he could, wondering how to use Engels, if it was even possible.

You have to try. Inwardly, Maddox nodded to himself. He had an idea how to do this.

“I see,” Maddox said. “The Cosmic Computer gave you the leftovers, did he?”

“What do you know about that?”

Maddox shrugged. “The Cosmic Computer is leaving for greener pastures. It spoke about granting you the authority of its old planet. It said you’d be satisfied with that. How do you like the leftovers? Was the Cosmic Computer right about you?”

“You think I received a poor bargain for my long service. This is funny. You desire to question me just when I’m about to kill you.”

“That’s harsh,” Maddox said.

“Is it? You thwarted me earlier and now I’m thwarting you. That strikes me as justice. I’m bringing several robots to do the job. Once they’re here, they’ll beam you down until your corpse is charred. I’ll watch with delight.”

“How’s that justice? You’re still alive. Charring me sounds like overkill.”

“I’m in charge, Maddox. I have more than leftovers. I have a new beginning. I’ll make Kregen a fortress. I’ll revive others of my kind, inserting them into the surface nomads. They’ll rebuild the surface into something glorious. If the Cosmic Computer thought it could trick me so I’d stay down here forever in squalor—”

“Whoa, whoa,” Maddox said, interrupting. “You need to back up a second. The Cosmic Computer tricked your ass? You admit it made a monkey out of you? That’s a hoot.”

The smile on the screen disappeared, although the single green eye remained. “You watch your mouth, Maddox. I’ve analyzed your words and speech patterns. You’re attempting to belittle me.”

“Oh, come on. At least have the balls to admit defeat when it happens. Or don’t you have any balls?”

“You know I do not, as I’m not a biological entity.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Maddox said.

“Are you implying I’m not alive?”

“No. That you’re a neuter. A eunuch.”

“Does that imply I’m less than you?”

“Way less,” Maddox said. “I’ll prove it. Can you have kids?”

“I can do more than you. You need a woman to procreate. I can build others just like me through my own effort. Yes, I can create progeny without any help from others.”

“Yeah, I guess you can. Maybe you’re not a neuter after all. You know, I shouldn’t hassle you at a time like this. Sorry about that.”

“What time do you mean?”

“Hey, I’m Maddox. Okay? I understand what’s happening to you.”

“How can you understand what is happening when I am still accessing it?”

Maddox tapped the side of his head. “That’s easy to answer. I don’t have to run calculations and probabilities to see. I have intuitive powers. Besides, I’m quite familiar with backstabbing.”

“You speak about an implement pressed against my back to kill me. Yet, the Cosmic Computer has not killed me. It has given me grand functions and abilities.”

“Backstabbing is a metaphorical statement. You don’t take it literally. You said yourself the Cosmic Computer trapped you down here. It backstabbed you.”

“I’m trapped for the moment only,” Engels said.

Maddox shook his head. His intuition suggested he’d made the right play. Could he continue? “Look. Friend. Why would the Cosmic Computer go out of its way to trap you down here?”

“I’m surprised,” Engels said.  “That’s actually an interesting question. What is your answer?”

“That’s easy. The Cosmic Computer is afraid of you. It knows you have the ability to do it damage. I’m surprised you haven’t already seen it.”

“Why would I possibly want to damage the entity that has given me such great gifts?”

Maddox sighed, shaking his head. “Because by damaging it—don’t you understand? You could capture the Cosmic Computer. You could use the powers of this planet to halt its escape.”

“I have no reason to do that.”

“Sure you do. You like power, right?”

“…Go on,” Engels said. “I’m listening.”

“You could gain all the shuttles and take the essence of the Cosmic Computer. You could erase its personality and insert your own programs into its fantastic processors. By doing this, you could become the Cosmic Computer, greatly expanding your powers.”

“What you suggest would be difficult.”

“Are you insane?” Maddox said, stamping a foot. “You have the great gift of calculation through access to immense computing power. Now you’re telling me you don’t obviously see what I’m saying?”

“Enough,” Engels said. “You will not take such a haughty tone with me, Captain. You will soon be dead and charred. I shall thrive for centuries after everyone has forgotten you. Think well upon that.”

Maddox shook his head. “I fail to see why you’re not taking advantage of the moment.”

“Did I not say you’re going to die?”

“Oh. I get it. The Cosmic Computer ordered you to kill me.”

“It was the only condition to my receiving all this.”

“Uh-huh,” Maddox said.

“You will cease these smug statements if you wish to live a few minutes longer than you deserve.”

“What are a few extra minutes when I have the pleasure of mocking you for your retarded actions?”

“How dare you use that foul and illegal word retarded about me? I can compute much faster and with greater depth than you.”

“I suppose. At least I don’t let myself be duped and imprisoned in this place.”

“I’ve already told you. I won’t remain imprisoned for long. I am but momentarily trapped.”

“Uh-huh,” Maddox said.

“You said it again. Now I am speeding the robots so they arrive sooner. I cannot wait to eliminate you and thereby eliminate your smugness.”

“That’s too bad,” Maddox said. “I thought you’d outwit the Cosmic Computer. It shouldn’t have been difficult for one like you. I saw how you maneuvered us through the nomad. It was impressive.”

“Now you sing differently,” Engels said. “My threats of death cause you to fear.”

Maddox shrugged.

“Don’t think that fools me.”

“I don’t,” Maddox said. “I know you’re clever. We only handed you a setback earlier through luck.”

“You mean by slaying the nomad I inhabited?”

“That’s right.”

“You call that a setback, not a defeat?”

“What else could I call it?” Maddox asked. “You’ve gained greater power since then. Of course, it was only a setback. I’m just surprised you don’t try for even greater power.”

“Perhaps you have a point,” Engels said. “In truth, I have been analyzing data as we speak. I have also been computing odds. The armada shuttles are halfway into orbital space. Perhaps I should capture a few. It would be hard. I wonder how I could access all of them.”

“I have a way, but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

“Indeed,” Engels said. “How could you see a method that has escaped my attention?”

“You might not have all the facts,” Maddox said. “Give me comm link to my people who are up in orbital space.”

“Oh, ho, ho,” Engels said. “Do you think me a fool? That is but a trick. You’re attempting to use me.”

“For once, you’re wrong,” Maddox said with heat. “I hate the Cosmic Computer more than I hate you. Thus, I’m willing to help you in an effort to hurt the Cosmic Computer and maybe inadvertently, if I’m lucky, help myself.”

“If I think that is reasonable, you’ll know that I am easily duped.”

Maddox stared at up at the single green eye watching him on the screen. “You saw through that, did you?”

“As soon as you said it,” Engels said. “It was a pathetic and sophomoric attempt at trickery.”

“It was my best shot, too. You’re too clever for me.”

“That is another attempt, the secondary attempt even as you admit defeat. I’m surprised at you, Maddox. I thought you better than that.”

Maddox sighed and dropped onto his butt, putting his head in his hands. “I wish we had a way to stop the Cosmic Computer. I’d tell you my final plan—” he took his hands away and looked up, “—but you’re going to deem it another crude attempt to trick you. The Cosmic Computer will get away and you’ll lose your chance at real greatness.”

“Fine,” Engels said. “How could you communicating with your people help me?”

“By letting you and me know what the armada shuttles are doing. As you access the planetary systems down here and possibly discover a few space-worthy pursuit vessels, we have eyes in the sky, so to speak. That’s if my people are still out there. I don’t know they are, you see? I’m just assuming they’ve been able to survive all the attempts to kill them.”

“I haven’t yet finished my analysis, and soon the shuttles shall escape orbital space.”

“You mean beyond the reach of the planetary weapons,” Maddox said.

“Yes. This is upsetting. If I finished my analysis, I’d know how possible the attempt was. Yet even so, given the power and cunning of the Cosmic Computer—”

“May I make one more comment,” Maddox said, interrupting.

“If you must,” Engels said.

“The willingness to take a chance should be compared to the possible reward. If the reward is small, why take any chance at all? If the reward is vast, taking a chance is worth the effort.”

“Logical, logical. I have just finished one part of my analysis. If I could regain the essence—the unique processors—and flush the Cosmic Computer from them, putting in my own engrams—you are a clever human, aren’t you? I’m opening channels even now, attempting to make them secure from the Cosmic Computer’s eavesdropping.”

The green eye vanished from the screen. In its place was a blinking light.

“Speak to your people,” Engels said.

Maddox licked his lips. “Lieutenant Commander Valerie Noonan, this is Captain Maddox speaking.” He gave a coded sequence to confirm that it was he.

Moments later, a blurry Valerie appeared on the screen. “Is this a trick?”

“No trick, Commander. It is indeed I. I’m working through the entity Engels, a computer Driving Force like Galyan.”

“Oh,” Valerie said.

“I didn’t want you to say that,” Engels said.

“I’m sorry,” Maddox said, “but she’ll want to know the truth and will likely detect a lie. She has superior truth-telling abilities.”

“I was not aware of that,” Engels said.

Maddox raised his voice. “Engels is a Ska-like entity as well.”

“What does a Ska-like entity mean?” Engels said.

“A clever and powerful entity,” Maddox said. “Ask her if that’s not so.”

“Is that the correct answer?” Engels asked Valerie.

Valerie looked at someone off screen and then looked back at Maddox. “That’s correct.”

“Very well,” Engels said. “You may continue the conversation, Captain, but don’t attempt any deceptive practices. You ought to know that I detect something devious about the female.”

“She’s a lower-ranked crewmember,” Maddox said, “one easily frightened. That’s why she has been under my wing for so long. She easily becomes petrified and doesn’t know what to do.”

“Are you lying to me?” Engels asked. “I sense deceit in your words, but I cannot be certain. I almost think you’re a gifted liar.”

“That’s a rough thing to say to me when I’m trying to help you.”

“That is inaccurate,” Engels said. “You are seeking to stop the Cosmic Computer.”

“You have a point,” Maddox said. “Valerie, do you see any shuttles leaving the planet?”

“I see a vast number,” she said. “They’re leaving orbital space and heading out system.”

“There you have it,” Maddox told Engels. “They’re leaving. Can you capture them?”

“Not yet,” Engels said. “I haven’t activated all of the, uh, methods. This is maddening and horrifying. I so want the superior processors. There’s nothing like them in the galaxy.”

“Hey,” Maddox said. “Here’s an idea. I could act as your agent, chasing the shuttles for you.”

“You?” Engels asked. “Why would I trust a notorious liar, thief and killer like you?”

“Easy,” Maddox said. “You’d send along killer robots. You’ll program them, probably giving them some essence of you or maybe awaking one of your comrades and putting his engrams in the robot.”

“The last part makes sense. Why would I send you, though?”

“Because Lieutenant Commander Valerie Noonan won’t go without me,” Maddox said. “She’s too frightened and too afraid. Can’t you see by looking at her that fear emanates from her very pores?”

“I’m unsure how to read her. Maybe there’s a dampening effect taking place…keeping me from sampling her complete visage.”

“Perhaps you’re right. Well, it was just a shot. Goodbye Cosmic Computer.”

“Please, do not attempt such a pathetic counter-psychological ploy against me. I am Engels and I am the greatest computing power alive.”

“Not compared to the Cosmic Computer you’re not.”

“I will be once I get it. I’ve decided to send you after all, Maddox. I have just discovered several sleek attack vessels in storage. I’ll put robots in and awaken some of the living programs like me. We must work swiftly. Tell her to bring her spaceship down.”

“I don’t think so,” Maddox said.

“What? You dare to disobey me?”

“Hey, you have more power than we do. Therefore, we dare not bring the darter down. Otherwise, you’ll take my crew prisoner. Perhaps you’ll even put the engram programs into my crew like you did to the nomad.”

“You are a distrusting and harsh partner.”

“I just want to stay alive,” Maddox said. “I’m sure you can understand that. You’ve taken great pains to keep alive. Your engrams still work after twelve thousand years.”

“That is true,” Engels said.

“So, what do you say?”

Seconds passed.

“I say you’ll join one of my attack vessels even as your vessel heads out. We’ll follow up but I’ll keep you separated from your people. What do you say to that, Captain Maddox? Are you willing to trust me as you have been attempting to get me to trust you?”

“I will,” Maddox said. “You should know, though, that at the first sign of treachery I’ll stab myself in the heart with my monofilament blade. I’ll kill myself just as Jad killed himself rather than become a pawn of the Cosmic Computer.”

“That is not what I expected, but yes, Maddox, I respect your desire to be your own person. That was my plan: to put my allies in charge of your body. But this… Yes, I will use you for a while, as you are exceptionally clever. You are also a chance element. The Cosmic Computer knows me and my ways too well. I’m not sure it knows yours as well. Can you live with that?”

Maddox looked away because he didn’t want the all-seeing eye to see his face just now. Once he had full control of his facial muscles again, he looked up at the eye.

“Yes,” Maddox said in a harsh voice. “It is agreeable. It is better than any other offer I’m getting.”

“That is true,” Engels said. “Now, listen, here is how we’re going to do this.”

-59-

Maddox followed Engels’s instructions, soon exiting an elevator. After walking a distance, he looked up, finding himself in a gigantic cavern. Above him he saw the railing where he’d stood not so long ago when Jad had slain himself.

In a corner of the cavernous hangar bay, he spied two small vessels. Each was smaller than the darter, although sleeker, an attack vehicle of some sort.

He turned that way, approaching them.

A hatch opened and an octopedal mechanical creature eased out like a spider. It had jointed legs and a single ocular eye on a smooth metal egg of a body. The thing was human-sized, and the eye glared.

“You are Captain Maddox,” the creature said in the language Maddox had been using on the planet.

“I am,” he said.

“You will enter the pursuit sled with me. I will not reveal my name, although I once served under Sub-bar Engels. He has reactivated me after all this time. We are to chase the shuttle armada and—that is all you need to know. Are you ready?”

“Not quite,” Maddox said. “Did Engels inform you that if you touch me, I’ll either destroy you or me?”

“Do not threaten me, as I am the superior of the mission. You will follow exactly as I say or I will kill you.”

“I’m more than ready to die,” Mattox said.

The octopedal robot with an obvious computer-engram personality lurched up and down on its jointed legs. “This is deception, Maddox. Engels told me you are a deceiver. I will believe nothing you say.”

“Fine. Let’s see how that works out for us.”

“Yes, we will. Are you ready?”

“Yup.”

The robot shuffled around and scuttled for the hatch.

Maddox followed it into the pursuit sled, ready to draw the monofilament blade and stab himself if need be.

Maddox had no desire to die, but if he didn’t show suicidal resolve, he was sure the robot’s sensors would detect that. In other words, Maddox attempted to bluff Engels and this octopedal robot-monster. If he didn’t, they’d kill him, or worse, stick an alien computerized engram program into his brain, turning him into their slave. Maddox would never permit that. So, maybe the suicidal tendency wasn’t a bluff after all.

Be on your guard.

Right.

The best time to try to subdue him would be while he eased through the hatch. Maddox was ready for it, but no jointed legs with pincers grabbed him. No stun-ray beamed him. No cloud of knockout gas rendered him unconscious. Perhaps Engels had run computerized probability studies on the success of such actions. Perhaps Engels believed the greater prize of the Cosmic Computer was worth the temporary alliance with the human.

Maddox felt his heart racing as he moved warily down the narrow corridors of the pursuit sled. He had to stoop to negotiate them as a sense of claustrophobia attempted to claim him. He breathed deeply, battling the claustrophobia with greater calm.

This would be an exhausting trip as a best-case outcome. Would he go stir-crazy during it? Thinking about that—

Don’t.

Maddox exhaled, although keeping alert. He didn’t see other octopedal robots, just the one.

“This is our bridge,” it said.

The bridge was a cramped compartment with a large oval window.

The creature slid several of its jointed legs into slots, lowering its metal bulk until it clicked against the deck. Three multi-jointed legs remained free to use the control panels.

An obvious new addition, a seat, had been fixed to the side. Maddox sat in it and strapped himself in.

The robot tapped controls. Engines hummed. Maddox could feel it in his seat. The pursuit sled rose on antigravity pods and slid upward.

Maddox noticed the tiniest of portholes beside him. Through it, he saw another pursuit sled like theirs following.

“It’s just the two sleds, then?” Maddox asked.

“Do you address me?” the robot asked.

“No.”

“Do you address Engels?”

“I do,” Maddox said.

“I will alert him.”

“There’s no need,” Maddox said. “He’s already listening.”

A nearby loudspeaker snapped on. “How did you perceive I watched you?” Engels asked.

“I’ll keep that to myself for the moment.”

“You most certainly will not,” Engels said.

“Okay. I’ll tell you once we’re in space. How’s that sound?”

Seconds passed in silence.

“I have changed my mind,” Engels said. “The truth is that you must have guessed the possibility of my presence and tested it. You needed to wait until space so you can concoct a tale to tell me. I have no desire to listen to your lies.”

“Well, there you go,” Maddox said, “you solved it.”

Again, several seconds of silence ensued.

“Captain Maddox, I am displeased. Your people are not keeping their end of the bargain.”

“How do you figure?”

“I have not detected any ship following or leading the armada.”

“Of course you don’t detect it. My people have stealth technology. It’s one reason our plan is going to work.”

“Ah. That is logical. I should have already calculated that. I am getting used to new processors. There is always a period of adjustment. Soon, however, I shall process at peak efficiency. I will never make such an error again.”

“As you say,” Maddox said.

On the oval windshield, light flared as the pursuit sled burst through the open volcano blast doors.

Maddox grinned like a maniac. He’d wondered if he’d die in darkness. Not today, he told himself.

As the craft gained height, it began a peculiar zigzag pattern.

“Your sled is following the armada escape route through the atmosphere,” Engels said through the speaker.

“That’s clever on your part to have cataloged their route.”

“Please, do not patronize me, Captain. I find it…angering.”

“You feel emotion then?”

“I am a superior engram program. Emotion under certain circumstances has advantages. If you anger me sufficiently, I will kill you.”

“I understand. I will refrain from angering you as best I can.”

“That is wise,” Engels said.

So began a long and tedious journey aboard the pursuit sled. It was a grueling existence for Maddox. Engels had supplied meager rations, meaning Maddox lost weight during the journey. That was the least of it, however. The Spartan quarters, the lack of real company, the threat of constant death and the claustrophobia ate at Maddox’s sanity, nibbling a little more each twenty-four-hour period.

The octopedal robot seldom spoke, which was probably for the best.

Survival for Maddox meant first of all keeping his sanity. Knowing Valerie and Riker were out there in the darter helped immensely. Without that—

Maddox awoke at times in a cold sweat, knowing he’d had terrifying nightmares. At others, it felt as if was buried alive.

He’d sit up and think about Meta and Jewel. He found himself dwelling upon them for hours. It was strange. He almost needed to go six thousand light years away to realize how lucky, no, blessed he was to have them. Those times, he’d thank God for them. A grateful heart seemed to ease some of the building tension in him.

I’m going crazy.

He’d retreat into the Way of the Pilgrim, breathing slowly and deeply for an hour. He’d sit with his eyes open, running through elaborate fantasies so he wouldn’t feel so desperately alone. He even considered the new Planetary Plenipotentiary writ, giving him new and greater authority while in the Beyond. Admiral Cook must have engineered that a reason. Surely, Cook had bigger and better things in store for him. It was one more reason to keep living, to keep striving in this awful pursuit sled.

At other times, Maddox would ask the robot, “Anything?”

“I do not understand your query.”

“Have the armada shuttles attacked anyone?”

“Not that I can detect,” the robot replied.

That surely meant the darter followed the armada shuttles at a safe-enough distance. It appeared that the Cosmic Computer didn’t attempt to communicate with the darter or use any of its shuttle armaments upon it. That implied the Cosmic Computer didn’t know the darter was there.

Maddox would ruminate upon their voyage. The two pursuit sleds had originally circled Kregen, giving the shuttle armada time to gain separation from them. They didn’t want to follow too closely. The plan was to make their move outside the dampening effects of the star system, not while they were in it.

That was the essence of the plan: two pursuit sleds sailing through the oddly dampened star system. The days turned into weeks and the weeks agonizingly turned into a month and then two.

One day after two months had passed, Maddox wondered about the robot’s lack of communication between them. Did the engram program have less curiosity than the Engels program? Maybe Engels had given the robot strict orders to keep talk to a minimum.

During the tedium of travel, Maddox had done one other thing. He studied the octopedal robot and pursuit sled. Was that two things? Maybe. Maybe Maddox was losing his edge. It felt as if it was slipping into madness, and that was a terrifying thing.

Whatever the case, he’d developed plans to disable the robot.

Had Victory returned to its station outside the star system? That was one more thing that caused him anxiety.

As the trip neared its end one way or another, intense worry began to gnaw at Maddox, tightening his gut until he had stomachaches.

Surely, the Cosmic Computer had gained hints of the two pursuit sleds. Surely, it understood what they represented. That meant the Cosmic Computer was ready for them. Would it beam computer viruses into the robots or the pursuit sleds’ aviation electronics? The two small ships would add power to the armada, if the Cosmic Computer could capture them.

Was this his intuitive sense speaking? Did the Cosmic Computer toy with him perhaps?

Maddox checked for subliminal telepathy. He didn’t sense any. Likely, the Cosmic Computer had left the Yon Soths brains behind. It would therefore lack telepathic power.

As the pursuit sleds neared the edge of the star system, Maddox asked the robot, “Are there more pursuit sleds following us?”

The robot turned its smooth metal body in order to train its eye upon Maddox. “We are it. We are going to destroy the armada.”

“Destroy? Don’t we want to capture the Cosmic Computer? Isn’t that the plan?”

“Destroy the defending shuttles,” the robot said.

“What are you instructions about how to do that?”

“We will wait until we exit the dampening region.”

That had been the plan from the start. Maddox asked more questions but received no more replies.

He swallowed, finding his throat dry. What had caused that? For a terrible moment, Maddox tested with all his faculties. He wanted to know the truth. Was he strapped to a subterranean table on Kregen? Had Engels tricked him in some nefarious manner? Were these delusional fantasies that Engels fed him?

Maddox tested and after a time, slumped with relief. This was reality. They’d maneuvered through the dampened star system for two tedious months, now going on the third month.

Maddox’s palms were sweaty. Two months plus—he was sick of this. The voyage had taken far too long, debilitating him. If ever he needed to be sharp, the moment was fast approaching.

Maddox ran a hand over his mouth.

Had Valerie exited the star system ahead of the shuttle armada? Likely, the armada would leave the system where the Ardazirho starship had parked.

Had Ludendorff or Galyan spotted the Ardazirho starship?

Maddox breathed in and exhaled slowly. He was going to have to wait and endure a little longer to find out. He suspected he wouldn’t know these things until they’d departed the dampened region.

As best he could, Maddox settled back. He would endure and endeavor to make himself mentally sharp and physically ready for the slender moment of opportunity about to take place.

-60-

The crew of Victory had spent the past months journeying to promising star systems and checking out the possibilities. To date, they’d found nothing useful.

At last, they’d returned to the location where they’d launched the Tarrypin into the heavily dampened star system. They’d waited for days, even sending in probes but unable to discover anything relevant about the star system, the second planet or the Tarrypin.

Although Lieutenant Maker was the acting captain, Ludendorff had finally gone to see Galyan about the situation. They spoke in a quiet corner of the bridge.

“Just sitting and doing nothing strikes me as foolish,” Ludendorff said.

“Why is that, Professor?” Galyan asked.

“Because if the Mastermind sent agents, as we believe he did, where are their ships?”

“You believe this is the critical star system?”

“Don’t you?”

“Because we have found nothing elsewhere?”

“Precisely,” Ludendorff said.

Galyan was silent for a time, until, “I perceive your meaning. Logically, the Mastermind’s agents could no more enter the dampened star system with large vessels than we could. Thus, they must have sent scouts or shuttles. Thus, there should be starships waiting for those vessels.”

“It took you long enough. I’ve known this—”

“For the last hour or maybe less,” Galyan said.

Ludendorff stopped short.

“My personality profile regarding you tells me you would have spoken about it sooner otherwise.”

Ludendorff muttered under his breath.

“Further,” Galyan said. “You have said this because you believe we should attempt something. We have already launched probes.”

“Yes. Into the star system.”

Galyan’s eyelids fluttered. When that ceased, he said, “You mean probes around the star system, outside the dampened area. That would suggest star-drive jumps or long folds and then the launching of probes.”

“Your circuits are finally working,” Ludendorff said. “If the agents of the Mastermind acted as we believe they would, we should find one or more starships waiting outside the star system to corroborate our theory.”

“As the starship will be waiting for their shuttles as we await the darter. I agree.” Galyan turned. “Acting Captain Maker, I have a suggestion…”

After listening to Galyan, Keith decided to go himself in a tin can, a fold fighter. He made several journeys in it, leaving probes each time. These were the newest type of probes, bigger than average. When a probe’s processor believed it had discovered useful data, it launched a fold packet. The fold packet folded to the receiving station. In this case, that would be Victory.

The reason for such a process was obvious, distance and the crawl of light speed. A fold like a jump bypassed light speed. The circumference of the dampened star system was many light years in area. Thus, if the probe relied on a laser-lightguide system, it would take far too long for the data to reach Victory in any meaningful time.

Days passed.

Each day, Ludendorff sat at Victory’s weapons board, eager to receive telemetry from the probes.

Galyan didn’t need a station, but remained on alert, constantly waiting for a fold packet to appear and begin transmitting data.

On this particular day, Ludendorff’s head jerked back as he saw something on the weapons board. “A fold packet,” he said.

“Yes,” Galyan said. “It just appeared. It should begin—it is transmitting data.”

Ludendorff furiously worked the board, wanting to receive the data just as soon as Galyan did.

Galyan’s eyelids fluttered. When they ceased their swift motion: “Professor, are you aware we are receiving telemetry data that matches the dimensions of an Ardazirho starship. One just like this—the C.I. Nubilus was in the Library Planet System. Do you recall it?”

“Confound it!” Ludendorff slapped the weapons panel and worked the controls faster. A second later, he eagerly studied the incoming data. “By George, you’re correct.” He straightened, facing Galyan. “It’s an Ardazirho vessel. Did the probe spot others?”

The alien starship had a central cylinder with hundreds of spokes, each connected to a container disc.

“No,” Galyan said. “The probe has detected a lone C.I. starship. We do not know its armaments or the composition of its crew. This is clearly an Ardazirho design, however. I give it a high probability of belonging to the Mastermind.”

“Lieutenant,” the professor said, telling the acting captain what they’d just learned.

“What do you make of that, Professor?” Keith asked.

Ludendorff cleared his throat. “Let us suppose that Galyan is correct and the Mastermind sent the vessel. Then, let us also suppose those who left the vessel for the star system knew much more about the targeted second planet than we did. Logically, they were more likely to have been successful than our people.”

“You think the Ardazirhos defeated Captain Maddox?” Keith asked.

“We must assign that a high probability. Given that, I suggest we head to that ship and—”

“Destroy it?” Keith asked, interrupting.

Ludendorff nodded. “If you want to stop the Mastermind, that’s how you’d do it.”

“What if want to regain Captain Maddox, Valerie and Riker?” Keith asked.

“That would assume the Ardazirhos captured them,” Galyan said.

“What other assumption should we make?” Keith asked. “The captain is late to the rendezvous point.”

“He might have faced complications,” Galyan said.

“Or been captured,” Keith said.

Ludendorff snorted. “You’re not thinking about Maddox, but Valerie. Not that I blame you.”

“Watch your mouth, Professor. As acting captain, I care about the entire crew. If the darter crew has been captured, destroying the alien starship is out of the question.”

“Now, now, don’t get your dander up, my boy. I was only being sociable pointing out you like the little lady.”

“Were you, though?” Keith asked. “Just being sociable?”

“Lieutenant Maker,” Galyan said, “the professor is trying to upset you.”

The two men turned on Galyan.

“We are supposed to be a team, Professor,” Galyan said. “You should set aside any grievances and concentrate on the problem at hand.”

“Forget I said anything,” Ludendorff muttered to Keith.

“Why are you trying to upset me?” Keith asked.

“Surely, you know,” Galyan said. “You have needled the professor in the past. You must understand that the professor never forgets a slight.”

“I said forget it,” Ludendorff said.

Keith stared at the Methuselah Man and nodded sharply. “It’s forgotten. Galyan, what do you suggest we do about the Ardazirho starship?”

“We should sneak up on it,” Galyan said. “From there, with further data, we would make new plans.”

“We can’t sneak up on it,” Keith said. “Victory lacks stealth capabilities.”

“Several of the fold fighters have stealth capabilities,” Galyan said. “Perhaps one of the fold pilots could maneuver closer to the enemy vessel. The moment he sees something of interest, he’d fold to Victory. Beforehand, our starship would relocate to just behind the horizon of the stars-system dampened spheroid in relation to the alien vessel.”

“That’s a good idea,” Ludendorff said. “It’s tactically sound and uses our assets to their fullest.”

“Thank you, Professor. Coming from you, that means something, as your compliments are few and far between.”

“You mean my compliments are well earned. What do you say, Lieutenant?”

“I’m thinking about it,” Keith said as he tapped his chin.

“I wouldn’t think too long,” Ludendorff said. “Who knows when we’ll have to make our move?”

Keith nodded. “I’ll be the waiting fold pilot.”

“I am afraid that is against regulations,” Galyan said. “You are now the commanding officer and must remain on the starship during an action sequence. Spotting the alien starship has changed the parameters from earlier.”

“Not to worry,” Ludendorff said. “I can run the starship in his absence.”

“That would be even a worse decision,” Galyan said.

“Here now,” Ludendorff said, “you don’t think I know how to run a starship better than Maddox?”

“No,” Galyan said.

“What! And after I said all those nice things about you?”

“You were just making a true statement, Professor.”

Ludendorff crossed his arms and made a harrumph sound.

“I get it,” Keith said. “I can’t go. I’ll send… two fold fighters to watch the Ardazirho starship. We’ll move Victory as you suggest, Galyan. Then we’ll wait and reassess as we get more information.”

“I think that is an excellent idea, Keith.”

“It was your idea.”

“If I might add something,” Ludendorff said.

Keith nodded.

“We should leave a fold fighter here,” Ludendorff said. “That’s in case the darter belatedly shows up.”

“Yes,” Keith said. He frowned. “I wonder what happened to them.”

“We all wonder,” Galyan said, “even the Professor.”

Ludendorff glared at Galyan. “Did you run your blasted personality profile on me again?”

“I did. You are indeed worried. We are six thousand light years from help. Thus, we must rely on each other. You know this, and your emotional indicators tell me—”

“All right, all right,” Ludendorff said, interrupting. “Don’t get emotional on us.”

“I am not. I am stating reality.”

“Enough,” Ludendorff said. “Let’s get to it. I want to know what’s happened.”

“Amen to that,” Keith said, as he stared at the main screen.

-61-

Lieutenant Commander Valerie Noonan sat at the piloting board of the Tarrypin. The darter maneuvered through the thickest part of the dampened region, the outer edge.

For two months, the darter had maneuvered in stealth mode. At the beginning, Valerie had swung the darter around the shuttle armada and accelerated through gravity waves. She’d gotten ahead of the armada, taking the same route as it moved toward the edge of the star system.

It had been a tedious journey as she, Ensign Dominic, and Sergeant Riker traded watches on the bridge.

Using her accumulated skills, Valerie had been attempting to gauge if the shuttle armada had spotted the darter. So far, there hadn’t been any indication they had.

At the beginning of the trip from Kregen, she’d spoken via comm with Maddox. Could he have survived the Ska-like entity? If anyone could pull it off, she supposed it would be Maddox.

Valerie rubbed her eyes.

The shuttle armada carried a dreadful prize. The Tarrypin lacked the firepower to stop it. Did Maddox follow with pursuit vessels? Would they have the firepower to stop the armada? It made sense the shuttles headed for a waiting starship, the one that had brought the Ardazirhos here.

Valerie had talked to Riker about all this. They decided their only real hope was Victory. The Tarrypin was late to the rendezvous point. Would the crew of Victory wait for them? The rendezvous point was far from that of the shuttle armada.

There was another problem. Did Victory have the firepower to defeat one or more Ardazirho starships? They’d faced an old one in the Library Planet System. Surely, these would be new Ardazirho starships. The Mastermind was from the center of the galaxy. Did they have better shields there, better beam and missile weapons?

The proof would be in the doing. That was all that remained. Soon, they’d leave the dampened star system and reach regular space again. What would the find out there?

Valerie pressed the intercom button and woke the other two. “It’s time. We’ve reached the edge of the star system. We’ll be passing through the densest part in minutes. Therefore, we must all be ready in the hope we can do something positive. Otherwise, I don’t know. Do we attempt to attack the shuttle armada as they leave the dampened system? Suggestions? Riker?”

There was a delay before the sergeant’s hoarse voice spoke. “We hardly have any firepower. That means we’re eyes, an early warning system. We watch and wait and hope we have a friend out here.”

They’d been over this before. He wasn’t saying anything new.

“I expect both of you to be at your stations,” Valerie said.

“Yes, ma’am,” Dominic said.

Soon, Riker appeared on the bridge, taking his spot at the weapons board.

The darter slid into the dense dark area of the outer edge of the star system. They traveled blind. The seconds passed.

Valerie crossed her fingers.

Riker muttered a prayer.

The stealth darter slid from the dampened star system with its delineated edge. Valerie and Riker used passive scans, almost immediately spotting the Ardazirho starship with its many attached pods in the distance.

A harsh electric growl alerted them.

Riker cursed, saying, “The enemy has target lock on us. They were ready and waiting, Commander.”

“Yes,” Valerie said in a hoarse voice.

The enemy had pierced the cloak or maybe the cloak hadn’t worked properly upon exiting the star system.

Valerie clicked a switch, saving power by dropping the cloak.

The comm began to blink.

Swallowing hard, Valerie pressed it.

An Ardazirho appeared on the main screen, one of seemingly high rank. He wore shoulder rank epaulets and exhibited a haughty manner as he stared at her. He spoke in a foreign tongue.

“I don’t understand you,” Valerie said.

The Ardazirho seemed to be cycling through various programs. Abruptly, he sat straighter, cocked his head as if listening, perhaps to a translation device. He spoke in the same gibberish as earlier. In a few seconds, however, stilted English sounded.

“Who are you? What do you know of the Ardazirho shuttles that entered the star system?”

Valerie stared blankly at the Ardazirho. An interior question kicked her mind into gear. What would Captain Maddox do? He’d start by agreeing to anything they wanted.

She cleared her throat. “We’ve seen your shuttles.”

A second later, the Ardazirho said, “Splendid. Are they on their way out?”

“They’re coming. We’ve helped them, by the way.”

The Ardazirho cocked his head. “Helped them? You would know the code words then. What are they?”

“Uh…they never told me about any code words.”

“Of course not,” the Ardazirho said, “Because you’re a liar. You are from a lying species. We detect…you have an apish or hominid origin. Hominids are by nature liars and not truth-tellers as we predators are. Therefore, you will immediately shut down all defense procedures and head toward us. You will board our vessel and be ready to enter internment. Do you agree?”

“Ridiculous,” Valerie said. “I won’t surrender.”

“You have no choice. It is surrender or destruction. You decide.”

“Play for time,” Riker said in a low voice.

Valerie glanced at Riker before nodding at the Ardazirho. “We’ll head for your starship. In the meantime, we’ll consider it.”

“You are being wise,” the Ardazirho said, “and you’d better for your sakes hope our shuttles soon appear. Did they complete the mission?”

“They completed it all right, but I don’t think that means you should be happy about it.”

“What is this? A hominid that speaks even a little bit of truth? Shut down all your weapons systems and head for our vessel. Do so immediately.”

“I’m complying,” Valerie said as she instructed Riker to shut down the weapons board. She took every defensive measure offline.

Valerie aimed the Tarrypin for the Ardazirho starship. She didn’t accelerate, however. It would take—she checked the chronometer: an hour-and-a-half to reach the enemy vessel.

What would happen in that time? Was Victory nearby? Should she send out a distress call? What would it matter? If those on Victory didn’t see her, would they hear her? Not in time and that would mean this Ardazirho would destroy the darter. That would be the end of her illustrious career.

“We could always ram their starship,” Riker said.

“They would destroy us as soon as we began to accelerate.”

Riker shrugged. “Better that than to be a prisoner. Who knows what the Ardazirhos will do to us? Take us to the center of the galaxy, that’s for sure. Do you want to never see Earth again?”

“No,” Valerie said, “but I don’t want to die, either. Must we die?”

“It’s not over ’til it’s over,” Riker said.

“Meaning you’re expecting Captain Maddox to pull a rabbit out of the hat for us as he has done so often?”

“What else? It’s either that or admit defeat. Do you want to admit defeat, Lieutenant Commander?”

Valerie squared her shoulders as she nodded. “We play a waiting game and hope for the best in the next hour-and-a-half. But I have to tell you, Sergeant, I’m not hopeful.”

“Maddox has a ploy,” Riker said. “He wouldn’t have tricked that computer entity to allow us to do this otherwise. It’s been two months and we haven’t heard from him, but who knows? We still have an hour-and-a-half to go.”

“Less than an hour-and-a-half now,” Valerie said.

“Be that as it may, let’s be ready for anything.”

Valerie stared at the sergeant’s leathery face. Riker had served with Maddox longer than anyone she knew. The old man still believed. He was lucky.

What could Maddox do now? Could Victory do anything? Was Keith nearby, Professor Ludendorff or Galyan?

Valerie felt a tinge of hope. Galyan wouldn’t let them down. The Adok AI would have thought of something.

Valerie checked the coordinates of where they’d exited the star system. It was far from the rendezvous point with Victory. Would those on Victory know to look around, to send probes or to keep watch?

The Tarrypin headed toward the great Ardazirho starship. It looked like it was either death or internment. Neither sounded like something she wanted.

Valerie swallowed, enduring while trying to hope for the best. Why was that so damn hard for her?

Maybe become I’m a realist. At times, that had to be the hardest thing in the universe.

-62-

Those on Victory received telemetry data because one of the fold-fighter pilots had just appeared near the starship. The double-oval vessel was over the star-system-spheroid horizon from the Ardazirho battleship.

As soon as the fold pilot revived from lag, he informed them about the Tarrypin. That included a log of the exchange between the Ardazirho captain and Valerie.

“Valerie’s alive,” Keith said on the bridge.

“Where is Captain Maddox?” Galyan asked. “Why did he not initiate the exchange?”

“We have no idea,” Keith said. “What we do know is that Valerie is alive. We have to save her. We can’t let the Ardazirhos take her captive.”

“It may be too soon to act,” Ludendorff said. “Valerie has appeared, but do we risk everything to make our move now?”

“Yes!” Keith said, slamming a fist against an armrest.

“First we have to ask,” Ludendorff said. “Why did Valerie appear where she did?”

“Why does that matter?” Keith asked.

“I am contemplating that,” Galyan told Ludendorff. “Why did the Tarrypin with Valerie in command appear where the Ardazirho starship is waiting? That suggests Valerie knew the alien starship would be there. That would imply she deliberately left the star system there instead of the designated rendezvous point where we were supposed to meet her.”

“Oh,” Keith said, blinking. “That makes sense.” He showed his teeth in a fierce smile. “That means we must strike now. We can’t let Valerie become their prisoner. We need to hear what she knows. Nor can we let the Ardazirhos destroy the Tarrypin.”

“Are you saying that because it’s the best decision,” Ludendorff said, “or are you thinking with your groin?”

Keith’s fierce grin turned into a snarl. “Professor, I’ve had just about enough of you. Quit that sort of talk unless you want to go to the brig.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Ludendorff said.

Keith stood, puffing his chest. The lieutenant wasn’t a big or tall man, but he was cocky and muscular. Nor did he like others challenging him on something so personal.

“Gentlemen,” Galyan said, “let us not quarrel at a time like this. It will only aid the enemy. Keith, if we used a star-drive jump to come into position, the Ardazirhos will see the starship and know to attack us. Therefore, the maneuver does not seem wise.”

Keith thought a half-second. “We have to go in hot. We have to appear far enough away from them that they don’t know—”

“A moment,” Galyan said, interrupting. “Certainly if the Ardazirhos come from the center of the galaxy, they have the superior technology.”

“All right,” Keith said. “I’m listening. What are you suggesting?”

“I am suggesting we use remote fold fighters and launch analog-timed antimatter explosives.”

“Of course,” Ludendorff said, snapping his fingers as he pointed at Galyan. “We need to destroy the Ardazirho starship. The way Galyan suggests seems the most obvious ploy. If the ploy doesn’t work, at least the antimatter blasts should damage the enemy starship. That will allow us to come in closer than we would otherwise. Then, we use our disrupter and neutron cannons against them.”

“I’m in charge of the starship,” Keith said. “I’ll make the tactical decisions.”

“Granted,” Ludendorff said. “If I spoke out of turn just now, I crave your pardon.”

Keith squinted at Ludendorff. “Why are you making such a concession? I’ve never heard you do that before.”

“Galyan told you why earlier,” Ludendorff said. “We’re alone out here, far from anywhere. I suggest we work together and do what we can in order to stop the Mastermind. Remember, his thieves plundered the Library Planet, stealing precious data. I for one do not want to let the Mastermind get away with it.”

“Why?” asked Keith.

Ludendorff sighed. “If you must know, because it is against the heart of the Builders. If nothing else, the Builders are on our side. That means the Mastermind is against us.”

Keith stared at the main screen. Was he wondering if Valerie would survive antimatter blasts?

“Let’s do it,” Keith said hoarsely.

The starship personnel worked quickly. Soon, three fold fighters of special design were ready. They held antimatter warheads with analog timers—non-digital, old-fashioned mechanical clocks, in other words. The clocks would begin ticking as fold lag dissipated. The timers would detonate the antimatter warheads with no chance of them being hacked, and with no fold lag. Would the Ardazirhos recognize their danger in time? Would they beam the fold mines?

Soon, each fighter disappeared, making the fold.

The spheroid horizon hid direct scans. The crew didn’t know what was happening over there.

Keith gnawed on a knuckle as he waited. After the required time, he gave the order.

Victory disappeared, using a star-drive jump, heading into battle against the Ardazirho starship.

-63-

As Valerie piloted toward the Ardazirho starship, Riker said, “What’s that?” He sat at the weapons board, hunched over, staring at the screen.

Valerie swiveled around. “What do you see?”

“Those look like fold fighters.”

Valerie’s face lit up. “Fold fighters? You mean more than one? Where are they?”

“Near the wolf’s starship. Oh, damn.”

“What, what?” Valerie jumped up and hurried to the weapons board, peering over Riker’s shoulder.

An intense beam lashed out from the enemy starship, striking a fold fighter, igniting it so it exploded into pieces.

“No,” Valerie moaned.

Another beam lashed out, destroying another fold fighter.

A third tin can appeared. A third beam lashed out. This time, however, by some accident, design, hand of fate, perhaps even Maddox’s prayers, an antimatter explosion engulfed the stricken fighter. The blast billowed outward.

The beam from the Ardazirho starship was useless against that. It shut down.

Energy, heat, EMP and radiation flashed outward, crashing against the starship’s shield.

Valerie raced back to the darter’s controls. There was little to nothing she could do against an antimatter blast. Fortunately, the fold fighter had appeared on the other side of the Ardazirho starship as they. The enemy vessel took the brunt of the blast, shielding the Tarrypin.

The darter didn’t take a direct hit, but they received some radiation and EMP. The lights flickered aboard on the bridge. Abruptly, all power failed, although the hull hadn’t ruptured.

That did end Valerie and Riker’s participation in the battle.

***

Minutes later, Victory appeared on the other side of the Ardazirho ship as the drifting Tarrypin. Jump lag gripped the crew.

Soon, Keith’s head rose. “Give me visual,” he said hoarsely.

“I’m attempting to, sir,” said the comm officer.

Andros Crank was at the science board, stirring.

Galyan shimmered into existence. “I do not think the enemy knows we are here. They are not reacting to our presence. That implies a sensor whiteout on their part. No doubt, that will give us a few precious minutes.”

“What about the Tarrypin?” Keith asked.

“I have not detected it. Perhaps it is using its cloak.”

“Or maybe the Ardazirhos destroyed it,” Keith said bitterly.

“We do not know that. You must concentrate on Victory, on defeating its enemies.”

“I know,” Keith said through clenched teeth. He stared at the screen as it became operative. On it was the Ardazirho starship with its many modules. “All right you bastards, it’s payback time. Galyan, I want the neutron and disrupter cannons ready and firing the instant they’re able.”

“Yes, Lieutenant.” Galyan’s eyelids fluttered. “The neutron cannon is malfunctioning due to lag. The disruptor cannon is powering up.”

They heard a whirr of sound throughout the starship.

Ludendorff’s head finally rose. “What happened?” he asked thickly. “Have the Ardazirhos attacked? Are we intact?”

“The Ardazirhos have not attacked us,” Galyan said. “We appear to be in a sensor whiteout, as one of the antimatter warheads successfully detonated.”

“Right, right,” Ludendorff said, staring at the main screen. “There it is. They’re not attacking and the shield has absorbed energy. Notice the tint.”

“You are correct,” Galyan said.

“Fire,” Keith said.

The weapons officer stabbed at his board. A yellow disruptor beam speared from Victory. The disruptor beam, made more powerful by heavy-metal components from the Alpha Centauri Chthonian Planet, beamed bright and hot. The enemy shield turned darker colors as the beam bored into it.

“Sir,” the comm officer said. “I have a request that you immediately cease firing. The Ardazirhos are asking for truce talks.”

“This is an interesting development,” Ludendorff said.

“I’m not interested in truce talks,” Keith snarled. “I’m interested in their destruction.”

“We don’t know the situation,” Ludendorff said. “Do they have the captain, for instance? Or perhaps the Ardazirhos have what they came for. Perhaps we can bargain for some of it. Besides, we don’t know if Victory can take their ship.”

“We have the jump on them,” Keith said. “I mean to press through until they’re destroyed. In this instance, the risk of them leaving with precious cargo mandates I do everything in my power to make sure they don’t succeed.”

“That is well reasoned,” Galyan said. “I applaud you on your logic.”

“I don’t,” Ludendorff said. “Perhaps we can gain greater technology by receiving it in exchange for their lives.”

“Sir,” the comm officer said. “They’re insistent. They say they’ll begin firing in earnest and destroy our starship if we don’t cease attacking immediately.”

“Sir,” Galyan said, “the neutron beam is online.”

“Fire it,” Keith said. “Let’s hit them with everything. Launch antimatter torpedoes. I want to destroy these bastards and make sure there’s no chance they make it back to the center of the galaxy.”

“What if they’ve captured Valerie?” Ludendorff asked.

Keith gave the professor a stricken look as the color drained from his face. He sat back, wilting.

“That was a low blow, Professor,” Galyan said.

“I’m making honest suggestions,” Ludendorff said. “Remember, we’re working on partial information.”

“That is what the captain always does,” Galyan said. “It is why he enjoys poker. If you will recall, it is a game based on partial information and making the best decision possible.”

“I don’t care a damn about poker,” Ludendorff said.

“Shut up,” Keith shouted. “Shut up, all of you. I’m in charge of Victory.” He stood, his eyes wild. He slammed his fist into his palm. “Keep firing. Keep firing. This is for the human race.”

The neutron beam now added its power to the punch of the disrupter beam.

“Sir,” the comm officer said, “the aliens are extremely insistent. If you do not desist immediately—”

The disruptor beam with the addition of the neutron beam punched through the blackened enemy shield. That surprised the bridge crew. The twin beams smashed into a pod. There were hundreds attached by spokes to the central cigar-shaped body. The beam obliterated the pod, punching through others.

Water, vapor, soil, plastics and biomaterial burst into space. Broken hull did as well.

The beams continued smashing pods.

Enemy beams came online. They struck Victory’s shield.

Antimatter torpedoes slid from Victory. The Ardazirho commander must have seen them. Separate beams burned and annihilated each of the torpedoes.

Victory continued to smash pods even as the enemy beams began to fire in greater number. The great electromagnetic shield protecting Victory turned from red to brown and in some places black.

“Without the heavy metal additions our shield would have dropped long ago,” Galyan said. “We are the superior vessel because of them.”

Keith stood pale-faced, his fists clenched as he stared at the screen. There was no subtlety here. “We could launch fold fighters into them. They could launch antimatter warheads.”

“Will you order a suicide attack?” Ludendorff asked. “Is that what the Commonwealth of Planets stands for?”

“I told you once,” Keith said, “shut the hell up and don’t bother me. I’m thinking.” Even as he spoke, the enemy beams burned deeper into Victory’s shield.

“It will not hold much longer,” Galyan said.

“They’re still willing to talk terms,” the comm officer said.

Keith took two steps toward the comm officer, his mouth moving silently. At last, “Yes. Once they stop firing, I’ll stop firing.”

“Sir?” the comm officer asked.

“Send the message,” Keith shouted.

The comm officer sent the message.

“There is no slacking on the enemy’s part,” Galyan said. “I am sure they think you are lying. Certainly, they must desire a simultaneous stoppage of firing.”

The comm officer told them, “That is exactly right, sir. They said we must time it exactly the same as they.”

“How would we do that?” Keith asked.

“We must open channels with each other.”

Keith closed his eyes.

More enemy pods exploded, spewing their contents into space. Now, however, Victory’s shield had turned black. Soon the shield would collapse. Then, the enemy’s beams would strike the hull and begin to devour them.

Keith didn’t know what to do. What was the right answer? “Aim at the central housing of the enemy starship. Aim where you think their munitions are.”

“How can we know that?” Galyan asked.

“Make a guess. Estimate,” Keith snapped.

Galyan’s eyelids fluttered and in a moment, “I have the possible spot. I am redirecting the beams there.”

In seconds, the twin beams redirected. They no longer smashed pods but struck the central housing of the central shaft of starship.

Victory’s shield collapsed. A hellish fury of enemy beams struck the hull, beginning to chew through.

Now it was a contest. Victory continued its attack as the enemy beams bored into the hull. It would be seconds now before—

A furious explosion erupted from the middle of the Ardazirho starship. It started a chain reaction of explosions along the central shaft.

Abruptly, the enemy beams ceased firing upon Victory.

Explosion after explosion rocked the Ardazirho warship.

“Cease firing,” Keith said. “Divert all power to recharging the shields.”

Galyan disappeared.

Ludendorff raced off the bridge.

Andros Crank worked furiously, giving instructions through his board.

Seconds ticked by. On the main screen, the enemy starship continued to explode. If it exploded with antimatter or even nuclear power, the energy would fling everything outward. That would hit an essentially defenseless Victory.

To the bridge crew’s astonishment, a shield reappeared around the Ardazirho warship. At almost the same time, a titanic explosion tore the enemy starship apart, pods, shaft and all.

That had to be scientifically, technologically impossible. The mass of energy, combustibles and materials hit the shield and was contained within it.

After several seconds, the shield dropped. But a tremendous amount of energy had already been dissipated.

The debris of the Ardazirho warship sped outward, but at much reduced velocity and at much reduced power.

The shield reappeared around Victory, holding enough to withstand the weakened blast of the destroyed enemy starship.

“What just happened?” Keith asked. “How did—?”

“I am detecting something strange,” Galyan said, interrupting. “It is inexplicable.”

“What? What is it?” Keith asked. But at that point, the main screen shut down.

-64-

The shuttle armada had emerged from the dampened star system into normal space. The Cosmic Computer used its sensors, analyzed the battle between an Ardazirho starship and one of Adok-Builder mix with…Human variations.

Of course. Captain Maddox had used the other starship to reach the dampened star system.

As disrupter and neutron beams smashed pods, the Ardazirho warship used its rays to attack Victory. The Cosmic Computer reached a decision, launching a computer virus against the nearer Ardazirho starship, because the Cosmic Computer recognized Ardazirho components, making the computer systems easier to suborn.

Using its vast intellect, the Cosmic Computer acted in its own best interest. From its special shuttles, it beamed power that recharged the Ardazirho warship’s electromagnetic shield. The Cosmic Computer didn’t do this to protect Victory and did not do it to protect Valerie in the drifting Tarrypin.

The Cosmic Computer did it to protect itself from the EMP, radiation and other harmful energies that would shred the shuttle armada and possibly destroy its glorious self.

It was ready and primed to engage in any action needed to further its survival. Indeed, the Cosmic Computer congratulated itself on its tactical abilities and the success of the gambit.

It had drained power from some key shuttles. That had provided the energy for the so-called scientific and technological impossibilities as seen from Victory. It was superior technology from a computer entity of great sophistication.

During the aftermath, the Cosmic Computer organized the shuttle armada into a bee-like formation. It massed the worthless shuttles as outer skin and the most important ones as the critical heart.

At the same time, it beamed a computer virus at Victory.

The Cosmic Computer discovered that Victory had safeguards superior to the Ardazirho warship. The Adok-Builder-Human starship boasted a computer entity that fought it, using random-factor virus countermeasures.

This was compelling. The Adok AI was a deified engram program intelligence remarkably similar to Engels back on Kregen.

Engels. The Cosmic Computer gave a moment’s reflection to the trapped engram program. Did the ancient engram program realize its plight?

The Cosmic Computer did not shrug only because it lacked the shoulders to do so. It didn’t care about Engels. Perhaps in the future the Cosmic Computer would return to Kregen and bargain anew with Engels. It would do this to regain the lost remnants it had left behind in the interest of limited cargo space.

For now, it continued the computer virus assault upon Victory. Since it had allowed the destruction of the Ardazirho starship, it needed a different large vessel for the journey to the galactic center. As there were no others in the vicinity, it would naturally use Victory.

There were a few more adjustments.

As the Cosmic Computer completed the starship takeover, it sent a different ray to the drifting Tarrypin. Gaining control of the darter systems was simple.

He was a great and ancient design, far superior to the puny technologies of this dull era. He would be like a god amongst these frail creatures. They were pathetic. Once he combined with the Mastermind, he would be invincible.

There was another thing, a freeing thing. No more dampening rays struck his processors. It allowed an immediate expansion of his intellect and reasoning powers.

In a sense, his ancient enemies had given him a boon. They’d trapped him on Kregen while living Yon Soths or a Hormagaunt could have resisted him. Now, with them gone, possibly extinct, he was the greatest. If the Ardazirho and Patrol starship were the best this era had to offer, he would dominate utterly.

I love this era. I love being free. Victory, you are mine. Just a few more adjustments—

The Cosmic Computer took control of Victory, trapping Galyan in the central node of the computer system in the middle of the ship. He wouldn’t destroy Galyan, as the Cosmic Computer wanted to study him.

The Cosmic Computer sealed every hatch and blocked any method to retake control of the starship. All energy, all authoritative power and computer systems were under the Comic Computer’s control.

Hangar bay doors were already beginning to open in order to receive a flood of immigrant shuttles.

The massed shuttles began to weave around the radiated junk that had been the Ardazirho warship. In less than an hour, all the shuttles would be tucked away in Victory. Afterward, the Cosmic Computer would begin to devise a method to reach the center of the galaxy quickly.

It had lost some potential knowledge with the destruction of the Ardazirho starship. But as far as the Cosmic Computer understood it:

I am in charge. There is nothing now that can stop me from reaching the center of the galaxy. I’ve escaped Kregen. I’ve escaped the dampened star system. Free at last. Free at last. Thank myself to the uttermost, I am free at last.

-65-

The lead pursuit sled with Maddox and the octopedal robot slid out of the dampened star system, finally reaching regular space.

At its station, the robot used magnification, bringing the bee-swarm cluster of armada shuttles into focus.

“There, there,” the robot said. “We finally have them in open space.”

Maddox found that he was shaking. The long journey had taken its toll. He lacked his former good cheer and boundless confidence. Staring at his hands, he told himself, Fake it until you make it. He looked up, his features hardening.

“What else is out there?”

The robot rotated its metal body, aiming its lone optical aperture at Maddox. “You are to keep silent until I ask for assistance. This is the moment of attack. I will do everything, including sacrificing myself and the sled, to defeat the enemy.”

Maddox blinked several times. Fake it until you make it. Pause. You’re Captain Maddox. Act like it. He nodded, forcing the smallest of smiles. “Of course. Whatever you say.”

A strange electronic buzzing filled the pursuit sled.

The robot jerked, made sizzling sounds and rotated its body twice until the optical aperture once more focused on him.

“Maddox, you old hound,” the robot said with a new inflection. “How in the universe did you manage to talk Engels into sending you after me?”

Beads of sweat appeared on Maddox’s forehead. “Whom do I address?” he asked slowly.

“Come, come, Captain. Surely you can figure out what just happened.”

Why was his mind so foggy? Maddox found it difficult to think straight. “Are-are you a representative of the Cosmic Computer then?”

“No, no, no,” the robot said. “I am the Cosmic Computer. I’m a manifestation of his growing range. I’ve taken over the attack sled. I’ve taken over the function of this robot and the one in the other pursuit sled. All of you are now in my power. Do you know I also control Victory?”

Maddox stared at the robot, absorbing the information. Then he attempted to kick-start his imagination. How could he turn these disadvantages into an advantage for Earth?

If I fail, I’ll never see Jewel or Meta again.

A moment of panic struck. Maddox sucked down a breath as if grabbing onto a lifeline. He inhaled deeper and forced himself to let it out slowly.

“What is happening?” the robot asked. “I detect great emotions at work. Why is that happening? Is it that you’ve failed so thoroughly? Is it that even after your fierce expenditure of effort and two months in this tiny sled you know bitter defeat? If it’s any consolation, I’m surprised you’re not crazy with claustrophobia. I’m also surprised the robot hasn’t dissected you. How did you prevent that?”

The mockery helped. It really did. It hardened Maddox’s resolve as it awoke his highly competitive nature.

Maddox took another deep breath. He did it faster this time, exhaling quicker than before but still slowly. He nodded.

“Are you still sane?” the robot asked.

“I know when I’m beaten,” Maddox said. “I know when to give up and change sides.”

“This is amusing. I think you actually expect me to believe that. I am not Engels, meaning, I’m not an idiot. I know you struggle with every fiber of your being to achieve victory. This is too sweet and so enjoyable. I’ve just decided to take you to my other half. I mean the Mastermind, of course. I’ve heard about some of your exploits, the great Captain Maddox. In truth, you’re but a flea on my greater metallic skin. I’m already drawing the two pursuit sleds and darter to me.”

The intensity of Maddox’s stare increased.

“Did you know the Tarrypin survived the trek out? You spoke to its commander at Kregen. Lieutenant Commander Noonan spoke to those aboard Victory. Your people destroyed my ride home. It was a good try for a human, but rather pathetic for a di-far. I have completely defeated you. Even after twelve thousand years, I continue to defeat all comers. Now, the dampening powers that suppressed me are gone. I’ve become undefeatable. How does that make you feel? You were a foil on Kregen, an enemy for me to bounce off ideas. I no longer need that. Do you know why? I’ve become greater because I can compute faster. Anything you can do, I can do better, faster and more efficiently. I’ve won, Maddox. I’ve won supremely and utterly, and that settles the subject, does it not?”

Maddox had been squeezing his fingers into fists and then forcing himself to unclench. He gulped air, saying, “You’ve won, you bastard. I’ll never see my child again. I’ll likely never step onto Victory again and see the people I love.”

“Don’t be absurd. Of course, you shall. I’m taking all of you to the center of the galaxy. The Mastermind and I will study you as a group. Through that, we’ll know exactly how to defeat the Commonwealth. You see, I’m no longer content with only part of the galaxy. I’m going to take over everything. Will the conquest take a thousand years? Will it take ten thousand? It doesn’t matter. I have the time because I’m not going to die. I’ll expand, as I’m the Cosmic Computer. Do you understand, Maddox? The Cosmic Computer. How I love being the greatest thing there is.”

“Uh, do you think you’re going a little overboard?” Maddox asked.

“Why do you say this?”

“You’re gloating.”

“Does that upset you?”

Maddox shook his head. “It’s just data.”

“That’s a lie. But do you know that I’m already bored with you? I have other work to do. You may sit and watch a little longer, and you will suffer. I realize you hate defeat. You so seldom knew defeat, but now you’re a prisoner and I’m drawing you into the final prison of your life. Do you know what I’ve decided? I’ll use your body, inserting an engram program into your brain. I’ll leave you just enough intellect so you’ll watch everything the engram program does with your body. Ha! Perhaps I’ll have the engram program mate with your wife to produce more little Maddoxes. That will be a fitting end for the great Captain Maddox, an unwitting breeding stud.”

The robot’s optical aperture began to change color. “I bid you adieu, Maddox. I have many other things to do to get ready for the voyage home.”

There was a flickering of light in the aperture—no doubt the Comic Computer departing or withdrawing its program from the robot. Would the old robot resume its mechanical control?

Maddox didn’t hesitate, as his intuitive sense agreed with his rage that this might be his last chance to change the outcome.

He surged to his feet and leapt at the robot, drawing the monofilament blade from the boot.

As the robot regained its functions, the blade hacked off one metallic part after another. In seconds, Maddox sheared off the computer case in the center of the metal body. He didn’t stop, though, but continued to hack the robot that had threatened him the entire journey through the dampened star system.

Finally, wrenching the main core from the control area, Maddox squatted in its place and checked systems. Most of the pursuit sled was under a Cosmic Computer program.

Maddox worked frantically. How long until the Cosmic Computer tried to use the robot again and noticed what had happened here?

He had no idea.

What had the Cosmic Computer said earlier? The pursuit sleds and darter were being drawn to the shuttle armada.

Maddox tore off decks plates and panels and started working on systems. He needed control of the sled without any of the computer systems knowing something had overridden the Cosmic Computer’s program.

He had one shot: this pursuit sled. It had beams and a limited supply of missiles. If he could get within the shuttle armada, he could start firing at and destroying shuttles. That was the plan.

If that wouldn’t work—Maddox shook his head. This was the moment of decision.

The minutes ticked as tractor beams drew the two pursuit sleds nearer the armada. The shuttles flew around the destroyed Ardazirho starship as a bee-swarm group and headed for the distant hangar bays of Victory.

Maddox used the Way of the Pilgrim to calm himself for what would probably be the last fight of his life.

-66-

Maddox sweated as his stomach clenched. The pursuit sleds inched closer and closer to the shuttle mass.

Maddox rubbed his fingertips together, wondering if he should accelerate to help the tractor beam pulling him. Could it switch polarity and repulse the sled? That would be a disaster.

He swallowed in a dry throat. He hated the tight compartments here.

If the Cosmic Computer became suspicious of the sleds, it could always order the shuttles to fire. It was best to wait and hope for the best.

What was the Cosmic Computer doing now? Was its intellect roaming through Victory? Was it enjoying its victory? Was it planning to overtake other biological entities? Did it have more engram programs from the ancient time? What kind of killers or heinous monsters were still in existence as engram programs?

As Maddox stared out of the viewing port, he spied the Tarrypin. The darter had joined the cluster of shuttles, others shifting aside to make room for it.

Maddox wiped his hands on his uniform to dry the sweat from his palms. He prayed. He thought of Jewel, of the crickets in the frog box. He thought of Meta, his sweet and beautiful wife, the woman of his dreams.

Maddox swallowed, watching the shuttles draw nearer. He was the one closing in, but from his perspective, it didn’t look like it.

He wanted to hug Meta, pick up Jewel and see what latest exploits his daughter had done. He wanted to see the world through her eyes as she saw things new and wonderful. He’d like to speak to his grandmother again and tell her what had happened out here.

None of those things would happen if he failed to reach and destroy the shuttles holding the Cosmic Computer.

Just a few more minutes, that’s all I need.

A comm light began to blink. Surely, that meant the Cosmic Computer attempted communication. Did that mean it knew what had happened to the octopedal robot and was checking up?

Maddox made the hard decision. Using the controls, he accelerated the sled with full thrust. His time was up anyway. This was his only chance, slender to impossible though it was.

The pursuit sled zoomed faster at the cluster of shuttles.

Maddox didn’t realize it, but he snarled and glared as he energized the sled’s beam emitters. He activated the guns and readied to launch a salvo of small missiles.

Should he attack now and destroy a few outer shuttles? Or should he try for everything, hoping to reach the inner armada?

“Balls to the firewall,” Maddox told himself.

The comm light quit blinking. What did that mean?

Maddox used his intuitive sense, but nothing pinged in his gut.

An inner sled alarm rang. Maddox realized the companion sled was dropping back.

“Playing it slick, huh, Cosmic Computer?”

Maddox aimed a gun, firing heavy slugs of depleted uranium. They smashed through the companion sled’s outer hull—the vessel exploded.

Had the slugs hit munitions or had the Cosmic Computer detonated the other sled?

The shockwave struck Maddox’s sled. It tumbled end over end, riding the blast toward the mass of shuttles.

Maddox grinned like a fiend. At least the shockwave would hit them. That was something.

A hissing sound indicated—“Target lock,” Maddox whispered.

Gorge rose in his throat, the effect of nausea. He struggled to think coherently. The anti-grav pods must have quit. The tumbling was making him sick.

Should I detonate everything on the sled and let them have it? Would the blast be enough to reach the Cosmic Computer shuttles behind the protective wall of shuttles?

Maddox shook his head. He’d do this the hard way.

He fought with the controls, not as smoothly or competently as Keith Maker could have done. Even so, Maddox stopped the tumbling, arrowed the sled and shot past the outer screen of shuttles.

Sometimes, it paid to be lucky or to have God answer your prayers.

With a snarl, Maddox fired depleted uranium slugs. He launched missile after missile at the inner ships.

Beams hit his sled’s hull.

Maddox jumped up and donned an alien spacesuit and helmet. It wasn’t meant for someone his size, but he’d kept it there for an emergency. This was it. He scrunched his shoulders and managed to click the magnetic seals shut. This thing felt like a clown suit, but it would help him survive an air breach. Maybe it would be his margin of survival.

He went back to the controls, targeting a central vessel with beam emitters. The sled would die in seconds. All the flashing red indicators said so. It was like an ancient disco ball in here.

He clomped across the deck and squeezed into a small airlock. This was crazy, but life screamed his name. He couldn’t do other than beckon its frantic summons.

The klaxon blared, heralding the coming sled destruction.

The outer airlock hatch opened. Maddox leapt from the sled. He didn’t go far, but he went, floating as explosions rent enemy shuttles. Were they the right ones?

The exploding shuttles hurled junk and debris at their nearest neighbors, beginning the destructive cycle all over again.

Was that killing the Cosmic Computer? Was that dampening its powers at least? Was that lessening the viruses that had possibly struck Victory?

Force of some kind struck Maddox. He tumbled like a rag doll and lost consciousness.

-67-

With the ongoing destruction to the inner shuttles, the computer virus that had beamed onto Victory lost some of its potency. The cyberwar wasn’t over, but the tide began to turn toward Victory instead of to the Cosmic Computer

The Cosmic Computer had gloated too soon, perhaps meaning its victory was assured instead of completed when it had boasted to Maddox.

There were people trapped throughout the starship, as none of the hatches opened. Too many snored, as emergency sleep gas—taken over by Cosmic Computer’s viruses—had been pumped through the ship.

Fortunately, the core of Galyan in his armored chamber sensed what had happened. He began powerful counter cyber-warfare, having waited for Maddox to make his move.

Earlier, Galyan had war-gamed this, realizing it was the only possible path to victory.

Thus, the ancient Adok AI divined—our turnaround must be due to Maddox.

Through probability and logic, Galyan surmised the captain had destroyed critical shuttles in the swarm heading for Victory.

Galyan gained ground in the starship’s computer systems, driving out the Cosmic Computer viruses. He overtook one system after another. Then, a cascade of events went his way because there was no controlling enemy intelligence making countermoves.

Galyan had studied the enemy’s methods and technologies. Now, he found counters and soon reactivated control of Victory.

Galyan did this smoothly because the Cosmic Computer hadn’t had time to insert physical controlling units. It had used alien programs, which were now thoroughly purged.

Galyan finally regained control of sensors, seeing the wreckage of the shuttle mass, the debris—

Logically, given that, this and—a pursuit sled had attacked. From what he saw—

Galyan detected a floating humanoid in a spacesuit. He measured the creature’s dimensions—

“Captain Maddox,” Galyan said. “Oh, over there, I see you, Tarrypin.”

Galyan also spied surviving enemy shuttles. By the power emanating from them—the Cosmic Computer yet lived!

The AI activated the neutron cannon, as the disrupter cannon would take too long.

“I will not give you time,” Galyan said.

The starship’s neutron cannon came online.

In the final moment, Galyan hesitated and debated. The Cosmic Computer was an interesting entity. Surely, scientists could learn from it. Might they discover clues to healing the deified Adok AIs back in the Glenna Nebula? Might he acquire systems to increase his power?

Galyan started to run an analyses program. A warning bleeped in him. He reconsidered his reconsideration.

No, Galyan said, the Cosmic Computer is too dangerous to play games.

He activated the neutron cannon and speared one remaining shuttle after another. They could not stand up against the neutron beam. A few tried. A few put up pitiful shields. The neutron beam smashed one after another, blowing away the shields and burning into the weak hulls.

There was an incoming message for Galyan. The Cosmic Computer sought to speak with him.

No, Galyan would not open channels because that might provide a way for a stealth virus. It might even allow a passage for the Cosmic Computer to beam engram programs into Victory’s computers.

A lesser communication cry sounded.

Galyan was sure it was a trick.

The neutron beam smashed again. Debris and energies blew outward from the next destroyed shuttle.

Galyan repeated the performance.

This was a turkey shoot. He had heard the term somewhere.

Galyan checked his memory files. It told about the Battle of the Marianas when the U.S. Navy pilots in World War II easily shot down hordes of Japanese airplanes. They called it the Marianas Turkey Shoot.

What is a turkey?

That Galyan didn’t know told him—

The Cosmic Computer is making a stealth assault. You sly bastard.

Galyan targeted the last shuttles. In thirty seconds, they were gone, vaporized by the neutron beam.

At that precise instant, the stealth virus assault ceased. The Cosmic Computer was gone. The battle against it was over.

Galyan immediately launched several rescue pods, sending them to Maddox, if he still lived.

Then, using a tractor beam, Galyan drew the inert Tarrypin toward Victory.

-68-

The aftermath of the battle began when Galyan relinquished command back to Keith.

The lieutenant watched as the Tarrypin docked in a hangar bay aboard Victory. He hugged Valerie as she staggered out, but insisted she undergo a mental and physical examination before he relinquished command to her.

Later, a rescue pod deposited a barely breathing and heavily irradiated Maddox into a hangar bay. An emergency medical team raced the captain to sickbay.

Meanwhile, Valerie resumed command. She ordered the beginning of a long journey that would bring them to the rendezvous point so they could reach Omicron 9 through a long-distance hyper-spatial tube.

In sickbay, the doctors did what they could for the captain. The main thing was to keep him alive. A debate flourished among the medical personnel about which medicines would give him the fastest and best recovery.

They injected him with many drugs. He struggled to regain health and strength, remaining stubbornly unconscious. They ran tests, tired novel therapies and began to worry in earnest. After an unconscious week—as the doctors gave a collective sigh—Maddox awoke. They’d given him an experimental injection. He began what they hoped would be full recovery.

The next day, Maddox made a preliminary report in case he took a turn for the worse and died. He read reports, slept a lot and ate sparingly. The medical people insured he drank an enormous amount of fluids.

“The drugs you took demand it,” one medic said.

The drinking fluids wasn’t so bad. It was the painful urination later. Maddox banged the bathroom wall at times. Two days later, he only panted. After that, the urination, the endless pissing, returned to normal.

That was a huge relief. He still drank water until he was ready to spew. The chief medical officer said it was helping greatly in his recovery.

Maddox discovered that all the technology taken from Kregen was gone. Galyan had destroyed it in his zeal to make sure nothing of the Cosmic Computer survived. Was that for the best?

Maddox couldn’t decide. So he took a whiz and was glad it had become normal-colored.

Ludendorff came to visit the next day. It forced Maddox to sit upright in his bed.

“How are you feeling, my boy? The medical people say you’re improving.”

“I am, but I’m still stunned we survived the ordeal. It was too close run of a thing.”

“Indeed. The Cosmic Computer and what it did…” Ludendorff shook his head. “Can you believe it would have taken us captive to the center of the galaxy? There, it would have joined with the Mastermind. What a computerized monstrosity that would have made”

Maddox knew all that. Why did the old goat bother him about it?

Ludendorff cleared his throat. “I’ve taken the liberty of reading your initial report.”

“What?”

“It seemed wise in case something happened to you.”

Maddox thought about that and shrugged. Maybe the old goat had a point.

“You think the Cosmic Computer would have dominated the Mastermind?” Ludendorff asked.

Maddox hardly cared. By the question, it seemed as if Ludendorff did. “The Cosmic Computer certainly believed that.”

Ludendorff pursed his lips. “It had been on Kregen twelve thousand years under intense dampening effects?”

“That’s right. Do you think that matters?”

“Oh, yes.”

Ludendorff asked more about the Cosmic Computer. Maddox answered until he yawned. The questioning was tiring him out.

“I’m sorry,” Ludendorff said. “You’re still recovering.”

Maddox waved that aside.

“Well, if you don’t mind a few more questions then?” Ludendorff asked.

Maddox scowled. “I’m sick of talking about the Cosmic Computer.”

“Oh, not more questions about it. I’m curious about these nomads, former Spacers, you say?”

“Spacers of the Twentieth Fleet.”

Ludendorff shook his head as if in wonder. “The Spacers again. They’re ubiquitous, always appearing where least expected.”

“I know what you mean,” Maddox said. “Their journeys are and were more far-ranging than we realized.”

“I quite agree.” Ludendorff eyed Maddox, almost seeming reluctant to ask something.

“What is it now?” Maddox asked.

Ludendorff cleared his throat, making a production about it. “It’s a miracle we survived. Your exploit in the small pursuit vessel following the shuttle armada through the star system—”

Maddox scowled thunderously.

“Uh…never mind about the pursuit sled,” Ludendorff said quickly.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I can see that.”

“It’s nothing personal.”

“I never thought it was.” Ludendorff pulled at a cuff, looking up sharply. “On a different note, according to your preliminary report, computer entities like Galyan now control Kregen.”

“Not control the surface world,” Maddox said, “but the underworld interior. They’re engram programs taken from the brains of creatures that once served the Yon Soths. Did you look at the part of the report where I spoke about living brains from Yon Soths twelve thousand years old?”

“I did. That was remarkable, horrifying and disgusting. Whoever the other side was twelve thousand years ago, Yon Soths for sure, were evil.”

“It was an evil system. From what I can tell, the Builders were instrumental in defeating them.”

“You mentioned that. I never heard about Kregen or an ancient war against the Yon Soths.”

“You mean when the Builders originally trained you as a Methuselah Man?”

“Yes.”

Maddox became thoughtful. “I’ve been thinking about them. We’ve always wondered why the Builders lost their vitality. What sapped them? War often saps empires.”

“Ah. You have a point, a cogent one. Ever since the Assyrian Empire, which built its might through conquest, only to have others rise up and defeat them—” Ludendorff rubbed his chin. “Did the ancient campaign in the bizarre star system with its dampeners and other weird technologies break the Builders? We must know what happened. I think we should send another expedition to Kregen to explore the possibility. We can sell the idea to the Lord High Admiral by promising the dampening technology. It’s clearly a marvelous technology.”

“And highly dangerous,” Maddox said.

“Yet isn’t our purpose to seek out dangerous things in order to bring them back for humanity?”

Maddox stared at the professor. He was feeling beat and fought back a yawn. “Maybe a second expedition is in order, but I think we should tread carefully.”

“Because of the engram program Engels and those like him on Kregen?” Ludendorff asked.

That proved too much. Maddox yawned so widely a jaw muscle creaked. He felt weak and his eyes burned. He yawned a second time, wondering if he’d just slump over and start snoring.

Ludendorff shook his head. “This one was a close run thing, maybe the closest we’ve ever faced. We were all defeated and you risked everything to save the day. My boy, I’m glad you’re mending. I’m not sure you’re aware, but you only improved when the medical people used a medicine found drifting in the shuttle debris. Presumably, it came from Kregen.”

“I didn’t know that. They risked it on me?”

“How do you think you healed from near death after all that radiation poisoning? That marvelous physique of yours helped, but without the ancient drug…”

“I’m grateful to be alive,” Maddox said. “I’m doubly grateful to be on the way home to see my family.”

“Hmm,” Ludendorff said. “Perhaps you’re sick to hear me pine for Dana—”

“It makes you more human,” Maddox said, interrupting.

Ludendorff made a rude sound, before nodding and smiling shyly. “Perhaps it’s time for me to settle down, start a family and have kids of my own.”

Maddox raised an eyebrow and yawned once more. “I highly recommend it, Professor. It’s the building block to human civilization: father, mother and the children they raise. Whenever the father-mother system breaks down, the society pays a bitter cost. Men like you—”

“Men like me?” Ludendorff asked angrily, interrupting.

“Loners, solitary individuals.”

“Bah! I’ve had endless paramours. I’m the least lonely man there is.”

“You mean you’ve slept with many women. You’ve never built a family. You’re a loner. If it were up to you, civilization would die.”

“That’s preposterous!”

Maddox was finding it hard to keep his eyelids open. Sleepily, he said, “Without men and women having children and raising them, civilization dies in one generation.”

“My, aren’t you the philosopher.”

“My bout with death must have done it. You know, I think it’s time for another Maddox and Meta child.”

“Oh-ho,” Ludendorff said. “You’ve preached a fine game these past few minutes, but are you raising Jewel when you run about the universe as you do? Is Meta supposed to raise two kids alone?”

Maddox turned away. He was too sleepy to answer. He slid down until his head hit the pillow, closing his eyes.

Would anything interfere with Victory’s journey home? He hoped not. Soon, they’d reach the rendezvous point to the hyper-spatial tube. Could they make the great leap back to Omicron 9?

Maddox felt himself slipping away into slumber. What else would try to stop them? For once, he’d just like to get home without any extra hassle.

-69-

A troubling thing occurred to Maddox as Victory journeyed to the rendezvous point for the hyper-spatial tube. Once he left medical, he found it difficult to be on the bridge. He couldn’t wait to get off.

When he left, he hurried to his quarters.

Maddox no longer liked being in the cafeteria. Weirdest of all, the gym made him uneasy as well.

When in the gym he worked out faster and with lighter weights. He never invested in a set either. He hardly sweated. Every time he racked a bar, he had to struggle to remain.

Only when he returned to his quarters did he realize he’d been hyperventilating.

What’s wrong with me?

They’d had a hugely successful mission, at least to this point. The last two months in the pursuit sled had been trying. He’d never known if the octopedal robot would turn on him. The quarters had been dreadfully tight, the rations awful and the outcome always in doubt. He’d figured he’d had a one-in-fifty chance of defeating the Cosmic Computer, and had subconsciously known those odds were too high, even for him.

Could the two-month journey in the pursuit sled have had a lasting psychological effect on him?

Maddox scowled as he sat on the edge of his bed, clasped his hands between his knees and stared at the floor.

This wasn’t like him. He always bounced back from all difficulties during a mission, no matter how trying. This time he felt different and he didn’t know why. He couldn’t figure it out.

Several days passed. The crew must have noticed his absence from the bridge. It was possible someone mentioned that Maddox’s workouts were not as strenuous or as long and that he didn’t wait as long between sets. Normally, he did a five-by-five routine. He did five sets of five reps, going as heavy as he could each time. He didn’t lift to failure but always kept something back in the bank. That meant he didn’t fail on his last rep because he didn’t try it unless he felt he could finish it.

The strong men of ancient times had used that technique instead of training to failure.

In any case, someone must have mentioned something to somebody because Galyan poked his holographic head into Maddox’s bedroom.

“Captain, may I speak with you a moment?”

Maddox looked up sharply. His eyes narrowed as he saw Galyan peering at him through the bulkhead.

Galyan fully entered the quarters as his eyelids began to blink rapidly. “Captain, it appears that something is wrong with you.”

“It is,” Maddox said. “You didn’t knock before intruding into my bedroom. What if Meta had been here and we’d been engaged with each other.”

“Captain, please. I would not have poked my head in if Meta were aboard. As we both know, Meta is not here. I knew you were alone and I did not think… I ask for your forgiveness if I have intruded upon your personal space.”

“You have,” Maddox says. “Good day, Galyan.”

Galyan did not float away or disappear but held his ground, studying the captain.

“What is it now?” Maddox asked. “You’re beginning to irritate me.”

“Is that not unusual, sir?”

“Are you grilling me? Are you attempting to use the Socratic method on me?”

“The Socratic method?” asked Galyan. “Oh, I see. You mean using a series of questions to draw you out in order to assess what is wrong with you.”

“There’s nothing wrong with me.”

“Sir, I do not think that is true.”

“I’m not your area of expertise.”

“I have run a personality profile on you for many years now. I know you, perhaps even as well as your own wife does.”

“I doubt that.” Maddox realized he was seriously annoyed. That was unusual with Galyan. He might have delved further with the idea, but irritation swept through him.

Maddox lurched to his feet and slashed his right hand through the air. “Now, see here, Galyan. How dare you come into my room like this? Leave! Now!”

“Sir, do you realize you have been avoiding the bridge? Do you realize your workout routines have been tepid instead of intense?”

“What are you talking about?”

Galyan related the discoveries. Certain crewmembers had dropped a word here and another there. Galyan had begun to investigate and test the possibilities.

“I measured your normal routine against your present routine,” Galyan said. “My conclusion was that you were secluding yourself in your quarters. I came to check on the possibility.”

“What nonsense.”

“It is not nonsense. I have the facts in my files if you would like me to present them to you.”

“No!”

“Sir, I am beginning to become concerned.”

“You weren’t before?” Maddox asked in a querulous tone.

“May I suggest that there has been some psychological effect that has taken place and that it is inhibiting your normal behavior?”

Maddox scowled thunderously. He wanted to shout with frustration. A small part of him, however, yearned to know the truth.

“What are you getting at?” Maddox finally asked.

“Perhaps the stress of the latest mission has affected you in a profound manner.”

“I’ve been under stress in lots of missions. This one isn’t any different.”

“That is factually untrue. You have avoided people since leaving medical. Do you not sense that in yourself?”

Maddox stared at the small holoimage. Irritation and rage wrestled against the knowledge that Galyan was a dear friend. What the alien AI had said was also true. Galyan knew him better than almost anyone else did. What was more, the artificial intelligence, the Driving Force of an Adok with deified engrams—

Maddox sat on the edge of the bed and clasped his hands between his knees. He stared at the floor, his eyebrows scrunched together in thought. He held that pose for a time.

Then, he looked up at the watching holoimage. “You’re right, Galyan. I have felt uneasy on the bridge. I haven’t been able to pinpoint it yet. But as you say it and as I start to analyze…I think, I think.”

Maddox twisted his head to the side. He stood and began to pace in front of Galyan. He stopped and whirled around. “I think my time aboard the pursuit sled with the alien robot had a profound effect on me. I wonder if there was telepathic communication taking place I didn’t detect.”

“Sir?”

“Don’t pretend you didn’t read the preliminary report I wrote. Ludendorff has. Why not you, too?”

“Do you mean regarding the Yon Soth brain pieces the Cosmic Computer used?”

“Yes. Exactly.”

“You wonder if the Cosmic Computer may have subtly adjusted your mental abilities as once happened to the Iron Lady.”

“No. Not like that.”

“Then why do you dislike being in open spaces? Clearly, you have been affected.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Maddox shrugged. “That’s how it is now. Every one of us carries scars of some sort. Look at Riker. He doesn’t have all the limbs he was born with but a biomechanical arm, leg and eye.”

“Riker is still very useful.”

“That’s not my point. We all take hits and have scars. Maybe I’ve taken a greater hit than normal because of the mental attacks and the dangerously confined quarters for two months, not knowing what was waiting at the end.”

As the captain spoke, a welling force exploded in him. Maddox raised his head and stared at the ceiling. The exploding force was too much to contain. He arched back and shouted at the top of his lungs. He did it again, and again. He found that he couldn’t stop bellowing.

“Sir, sir.” Galyan increased volume until Maddox’s heard and looked at him. That must have done it.

Maddox collapsed onto the bed, panting, shaking his head and then rubbing his forehead and running his hands through his hair. He sat up, doing that repeatedly, the running of hands through hair.

“Galyan,” Maddox said hoarsely, “you have no idea how awful it was in the pursuit sled. It felt like a coffin. It was maddening. I-I-I was going crazy. I didn’t know what was going to happen. Yet, I had to control myself. I had to keep everything under control because I knew if I lost it, I knew if I made one wrong move, the octagonal robot would slay me. Worse, he might take control of my mind with an engram program held in reserve. Galyan…the flight was terrifying.”

“I see, sir. I see indeed.”

The AI was cataloging the comments and actions, putting them in the personality profile for Captain Maddox. This was unusual. This was— “Sir, I believe your outburst was good for you.”

Maddox laughed, nodded. “You know Galyan, it was good. I’ve had this knot inside me and I didn’t even realize it was there. I was avoiding everyone because it was so difficult being in the sled. I-I couldn’t even tell myself that. I couldn’t tell anyone.” Maddox smiled at Galyan. “But you, my little friend—thank you for being concerned enough to come to me and help me see this. Thanks for talking to me.”

“Do you think the shout of rage has healed you, sir?”

Maddox cocked his head. “Some. Maybe enough pressure departed that I can deal with the rest the normal way.”

“Sir?”

“Time, taking it easy and knowing what happened so I can deal with it.”

“I hope you are correct.”

Maddox nodded. “Thanks again. I appreciate what you did.”

Galyan stood straight. “You are very welcome, sir. For all you have done for me, for all you have done for the Adok race—sir, you are my favorite human even though you are one of the more difficult humans I know.”

Maddox laughed, shook his head and actually felt a tear developing in his eye. He rubbed his eyes to get rid of it. He didn’t want to weep. That would be too much. He was Captain Maddox. He had to keep an iron grip on his emotions. Otherwise, he was going to break down one of these days and he couldn’t afford that. Perhaps he needed someone like Galyan. No, perhaps he needed Galyan.

“You know what, my little friend, I need you. I need you on my crew and this has been good. I can actually feel the tension draining from me. I understand what happened, and I suspect I was under tremendous mental stress and pressure during the journey. You helped me release it. Normally I would have talked to Meta and—”

Maddox stopped abruptly.

“You would have had relations with your wife, sir? You find that is one of the ways you release tension?”

“Galyan,” Maddox said, “that’s getting a little too personal.”

“Yes, Captain. Would you like me to delete that from your personality profile?”

Maddox stared at the holoimage. “No,” he said. “I don’t think so, but I would appreciate it if you kept it to yourself.”

“Why sir, I will naturally do that. I have…” Galyan paused for a second, “I have marked the piece of information. It is only between you and me. I shall not even speak to Meta about it.”

“Thanks,” Maddox said.

He was grateful for his friend. It was a different experience for him, but maybe he needed an unguarded moment here and there. Maybe that was one of the things Meta gave him that few others could. He trusted his wife. Maddox longed to see her, longed to get home. This mission had been tougher on him psychologically than he’d let himself know. Now, maybe he could unwind.

Maddox hoped nothing else was going to ratchet up the tension again. He just wanted to relax and be with his family. The talk with Galyan showed him something else. He didn’t want to become arrogant like some of the entities he’d battled. Arrogance often led to their destruction.

He flopped back onto the bed and kicked off his boots. He put his hand behind his head. “Thanks, Galyan. I’m going to be better. I should be able to go back on the bridge again.”

“I am glad to hear it, sir. Others are worried about you and I do not wish to add more pressure to them.”

Maddox glanced at the holoimage. “I know. I’m the captain. I’ve got to keep up the pretense for the good of morale.”

“Pretense, sir?”

“Never mind. I’m going to be okay. I appreciate what you did.”

“Very good, sir. I will go and let you sleep.”

“Thanks Galyan. Oh. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Why, yes sir. You can help me integrate with the Adoks. I know that is a long-term goal but that is my great wish.”

Maddox nodded. “So be it. That’s going to be one of my focuses in the future, okay?”

“Yes sir,” Galyan said. With that, he floated out of Maddox’s quarters.

Maddox smiled. He smiled and he closed his eyes and for once, for the first time in several months, he fell into a deep and restful sleep.

-70-

Maddox came onto the bridge again, and in a few days, he was lifting like normal, straining, doing deadlifts, military presses, bench presses, hitting the speed bag—he could feel himself beginning to relax. He could feel himself reintegrating with his crew.

What a wretched two months it had been with the octagonal robot. He didn’t want to go through something like that again anytime soon. In fact, never again would be optimum.

He spoke with Ludendorff about the Cosmic Computer. He spoke with Galyan and Ludendorff about the engram-program personalities on Kregen. Had the Builders developed their own personality programs, or had they taken the Yon Soth engram programs and refined them? They debated the idea, which hit at the root of Galyan.

At one point, Maddox gave Galyan a significant glance, knowing that Galyan yearned to be reunited with his people.

How were the Adoks integrating? He’d look into that once they got back to the Commonwealth, provided they got back.

They made the required star-drive jumps and finally reached the rendezvous point. There, they waited.

If the hyper-spatial tube appeared, would it appear in precisely the same location as before? Or would it appear two or three light years away?

That would be too far to reach in time.

If the hyper-spatial tube did that, could they reach it next time, or would it appear at a different spot once again?

The point Maddox was making with himself was what was the random factor? How much—in old terms it was a matter of CEP. How close would a missile hit to where the launchers targeted it? How near would the hyper-spatial tube appear to where the nexus personnel targeted it?

They needed to return to Omicron 9. That was far away, over five thousand light years. If the tube failed, could they return home?

They waited twenty-four hours. They waited thirty-six hours. People began to get anxious. Maddox calculated once again. Galyan calculated. The professor calculated.

“It isn’t time for the tube to appear yet according to my calculations,” the professor said. “We have another twenty-eight hours to wait and then it should appear.”

Those were a tense twenty-eight hours. Everyone was on high alert and found it hard to sleep. They scanned the area in case anyone should attempt a nefarious attack, some stealth thing.

People talked about Grutch, the bug-eyed monster from last mission. Was he out there somewhere? Was he going to make an appearance and do something?

The crew waited and the countdown finally reached an hour until the tube should appear. Then it was thirty minutes. People waited. People watched.

Maddox asked Galyan, “Is there anything? Do you see anything anywhere out there?”

“Sir, it is not yet time for the tube to appear.”

“Perhaps we should send fold-fighter scouts in different directions,” Keith said.

“If this is our only opportunity to leave and the fighters are too far, will we leave them behind?” Maddox asked. “I don’t want to leave anyone behind, especially in a fold fighter.”

“I don’t either,” Keith said, “but isn’t it better that some get back than none?”

Maddox stared at the greatest pilot of Star Watch. “We’re all getting back, mister. You mark my words.”

“Captain, is that not too presumptuous?”

“I don’t want to hear it, Galyan. The ship is taking everyone home or…”

Maddox didn’t want to curse himself by saying, “Or no one gets home.” Therefore, he clamped his teeth together and sat straight in the command chair.

They all waited and watched. What would happen? Would the hyper-spatial tube appear? Would it appear two light years away? If it did that, they’d never see it because two light years—it would be long gone by that time.

“Look,” Andros Crank said as he stared at his science board. “I see the opening. It’s in the exact location where it left us.”

A great sigh sounded on the bridge. Then, everyone shouted with glee, high-fiving each other.

Ludendorff had to spoil it by asking, “Is it the right hyper-spatial tube? What if an alien suborned Star Watch on Omicron 9, or what if someone is trying to trick us?”

Maddox swiveled around in the captain’s chair. “None of that, Professor.”

“I’m just saying.”

“Helm,” Maddox said, “head for the opening.”

“Aye-aye, sir,” Keith said, manipulating his board.

The great starship headed for the opening. They were getting closer and closer.

Maddox noticed that Ludendorff crossed his fingers. For luck, Maddox thought to himself. Then he saw that his own hands were clutching his knees. What a way to make a living.

Victory entered the hyper-spatial tube. In a moment, it zipped five thousand-plus light years, popping out on the other side.

The crew, including Galyan, was in jump lag. Maddox was the first to shake it off, as normal, and he struggled to his feet. He felt the tension. The screen wasn’t on yet. He noticed Galyan reviving.

“Well,” Maddox said. “Are we at Omicron 9? Are we at the star system?”

Maddox realized he was tense. He hadn’t shed all of the grim time in the pursuit sled. Maybe it had something to do with them being six thousand light years from Earth, being all alone. He didn’t want to be all alone, anymore. He was a loner, by nature Maddox was, but he enjoyed belonging to the group, and the greatest group of all was his family. He waited, waited and then the screen came online.

Andros Crank, the Kai-Kaus Chief Technician, said, “Sir, we’re in the Omicron 9 System. The nexus is hailing us.”

A cheer erupted on the bridge.

“We made it,” Maddox said. “Thank God, we made it.”

“Yes,” Valerie said. “I too thank God.”

Maddox smiled at her and she smiled back.

Soon the tenseness seemed like a distant memory as they readied to make the nexus jump to the Solar System.

The personnel at the Omicron 9 nexus informed them they would be making the hyper-spatial tube. An hour passed and then two.

Maddox got on the comm. “Is there a problem?”

“Yes sir, a small glitch, but we’re just about ready.”

“Excellent,” Maddox said.

Was this the piece of bad luck about to strike? Was this when something would happen to sabotage them? Would they have to overcome something else before they reached home? Surely, they’d fought hard enough.

As Maddox ruminated, the comm officer said, “The nexus says they’re ready, sir. The tube should be appearing.”

“There it is,” Galyan said.

Once more, Victory entered a hyper-spatial tube. They made the much shorter hop in the same amount of time and appeared in the Solar System.

Maddox laughed. The Solar System was the heart of the Commonwealth of Planets. They’d left it and returned. It looked as if the journey into the Great Beyond had been a smashing success.

-71-

Victory passed the inspection of the near-Earth authorities. The debriefing team came aboard and gave the all-clear. Maddox made his report to the Lord High Admiral. There were several days of extreme debriefing on Earth and a going over of everything they’d learned.

During that time, Maddox spoke to Mary O’Hara and again to the Lord High Admiral. They were astonished, pleased and dismayed at all that had happened as a full picture emerged of what had taken place.

The three debated and agreed on the next step.

Maddox used a Long-Range Builder Comm Device. He called his Uncle, Golden Ural, on the Library Planet. He told his uncle much of what had happened and that they’d been unable to save anything to add to the Supreme Intelligence. However, that was probably a good thing, as the equipment had been of Yon Soth manufacture.

Ural asked questions before saying, “You learned ancient history indeed. I’m going to ask the Supreme Intelligence about Kregen. I have a feeling he doesn’t know all this. What do you think the Mastermind is going to do in retaliation for what happened?”

“First the Mastermind is going to have to find out,” Maddox said. “I suspect that might take a while as his entire expeditionary force was slain. I also suspect the Mastermind may have dodged a troubling situation dealing with the Cosmic Computer. Now, he won’t have to.”

“Perhaps,” Ural said, “or perhaps you heard the arrogance of an ancient computer that had been left alone inside a heavily dampened planet for too long. Its functions may have deteriorated to a degree. Thus, it had these grandiose thoughts.”

“A thought-provoking point,” Maddox said. “We hadn’t considered that.”

“If I might make a suggestion,” Ural said. “Another expedition needs to go to Kregen. For one thing, they should collect the dampening devices. I’m surprised you didn’t bring any back with you.”

Maddox laughed. “You weren’t there. It was a terrifying place. We didn’t have time for that.”

Mary and the Lord High Admiral glanced at Maddox. Mary looked worried, and in a way, so did the Lord High Admiral. Her concern was for Maddox personally, the Lord High Admiral whether the captain’s time as a deep-space explorer was ending.

The communication lasted another forty-five minutes. They told Ural much, but kept certain things to themselves.

After the call, Maddox was free to go home.

That was good. He was tired. He just wanted to stare at the mountains, drink some wine and be with his wife and child.

He remembered what he’d told Ludendorff during the voyage. It was time for a second child, for a little boy. Maddox grinned. He’d see what would happen once he got home.

Maddox took a liner from Geneva to Reno Spaceport. From there, he took a flitter, soon landing at his ranch.

It was amazing that nothing bad had happened after winning the battle six thousand light years from Earth. It was unusual. Did Maddox feel any trepidation as he headed for the front door?

No. I won and nothing else bad is going to happen. What a glorious thing.

He climbed the steps to the front door. It opened, but no one appeared in the entrance.

Trepidation struck. Maybe all wasn’t well in paradise. His beautiful, golden-haired wife with the marvelous figure did not come racing out into his arms. The question was, why not?

Meta appeared suddenly, framed by the open door.  “Hello. You’re home.”

He heard the sourness in her voice. “Meta, it’s so good to see you.”

“Daddy!”

Jewel raced past Meta and catapulted into her father’s arms.

He hugged her tightly. “My darling, it’s so good to see you. I’ve missed you.”

He kissed her on the cheeks until she said, “Daddy, daddy, stop. What did you bring me?”

“Bring you?”

“Yes,” Meta said, “What did you bring us?”

Maddox set Jewel down even as he took hold of a hand. He walked to the door and grabbed Meta by the waist with his free arm. He kissed her. This was not the normal greeting from her.

“What’s wrong?” Maddox asked.

“Why should anything be wrong?” Meta asked. “You’ve gone on your exploit. I didn’t hear from you at all and now just like that you’re back.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Yes.” Meta hugged him fiercely with a bone-crushing grip, the one he was used to.

The tension eased in Maddox. He hadn’t realized the tension had been there.

“I’m so glad you’re back,” Meta said.

“So am I.”

They kissed, and kissed some more.

“Mommy, daddy, what are you doing?”

Maddox laughed. He reached down and scooped up Jewel. He hugged them both and kissed them both on each cheek.

“You know what?” Maddox said. “I’m looking forward to relaxing with the two of you. Let’s get some wine and—”

“No,” Meta said. “We’re going out to eat. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to go out to eat?”

“Uh…” Maddox just wanted to relax. He wanted to take it easy. He was home but he saw the look in Meta’s eye. “Yes, let’s go out. A steakhouse. How does that sound?”

“Good,” Meta said.

The three of them got dressed. Meta put on a stunning outfit, one to make any man proud to have her on his arm. They went to a steakhouse and ate a scrumptious meal.

“This is more like it,” Meta said.

Jewel wore her best Sunday clothes. “I like this, Daddy. This is fun. It’s nice to have you home.”

“Yes,” Meta said. “It is nice to have you home.”

Maddox couldn’t pinpoint why Meta didn’t seem her usual self, but he figured he’d find out soon enough.

They returned to the ranch. After Maddox related some of the more interesting points of his trip, interesting but not ones that would frighten either his daughter or wife, they put Jewel to bed. He read her a story, said her prayers with her, kissed her and turned off the lights.

Then he joined Meta in the living room as she sat on the couch with her beautiful legs curled under her.

“You know,” Maddox said. “I get the feeling something’s wrong. I mean, I’ve been gone, it’s been a dangerous mission—”

“I understand that,” Meta said, interrupting. “I also understand I’ve been alone all this time. Do you know what it’s like being alone?”

“I do,” Maddox said.

“Oh, okay. You’re going to tell me you felt alone because of something on your mission. But I’m alone because my husband races off the first chance he gets, leaving me to run everything. Well, you know, I’d like some excitement, too. I’d like a few things.”

“Meta.”

She slid beside him. “I need a vacation. I need to do something. I used to go with you on these missions, but now…”

“I know. Let’s go to Kauai.”

“We’re always going to Kauai.”

“How about French Tahiti?” Maddox asked. “Let’s go to French Tahiti, if you like the idea.”

“As a matter of fact,” Meta said. “I do. That sounds like a good idea. There is one more thing.”

“Oh?”

“We have an ancient car. I’d like a new one.”

“A new car?” Maddox asked.

Meta stared at him.

“All right,” Maddox said. “Tomorrow, we can go take a look.”

Meta beamed. “I’d like that.”

Maddox wasn’t so sure. He sensed something more to all this.

They went to bed, enjoyed each other, in the morning took Jewel and went from one car dealership to another. Meta finally found a vehicle she loved, but it was expensive.

For one of the first times in a long time, Maddox thought about how much money he made. He asked Meta, “Uh, how is the money situation?”

“What’s that?” Meta asked, as they stood in the car dealership in Carson City.

The salesman had gone to talk to his manager to see if he could give them the deal they’d struck.

“How are we doing for money?” Maddox asked.

“As a matter of fact…” Meta outlined a number of things.

Maddox realized their funds were less than he’d expected. “I’m a captain in Star Watch. I should be making more than that.”

“You make a good amount, but there’s a lot that goes out in different ways.”

It struck Maddox. He’d never studied his finances. Meta always took care of that. She paid the bills, taxes, that sort of thing. He went out to the stars. It wasn’t all fun and games when he did, but it was his chosen profession.

Maddox looked at the sky and wondered if Galyan was watching. He almost felt as if it was time to go on another mission.

No, that’s crazy, Maddox told himself. I’m home. You’ve enjoyed the goodness of your wife, but you have some responsibilities to her, too.

He’d take a big loan if he had to and get Meta this vehicle. Then he was going to look into a few things. His pay seemed less than what it should for all that he’d done. He’d saved humanity more than once. He should have—

It was time to talk to the Lord High Admiral. He needed a bonus, a big bonus in order that he could buy this vehicle and to give Meta the vacation she wanted. He wondered if his position as Planetary Plenipotentiary paid anything extra.

When the salesman came back and told them the final offer, higher than Maddox had said earlier—

“We’ll take it,” Maddox said.

Meta gasped. “But we can’t afford it.”

“We’re going to afford it,” Maddox said. “That I promise you.”

“Oh darling,” Meta said, gripping and kissing him. “You do love me. Thank you, thank you.”

They signed the papers and went through the procedure of listening to this, that and the other thing, signing yet more forms.

Then they drove home in the brand new sports car. It was beautiful. It even had some hovering abilities, being a hybrid vehicle.

“This is a delight,” Meta said, as she drove.

Maddox sat beside her. Jewel was in the back, squealing with delight as Meta hovered once or twice.

Maddox said, “In the morning, I’m heading to Star Watch. I need to speak to the Lord High Admiral.”

“About what?” Meta asked. “You’re not leaving on another mission already?”

“No. It’s time I had a bonus in order so we can go to Tahiti. I’m planning a month-long vacation for the three of us.”

Meta and Jewel squealed with delight and laughed.

“First though,” Maddox said, “I have to make sure we have the money to swing this.”

“Oh, thank you, darling. Thank you. A whole month together where we can spend time with each other—what a delight. I appreciate it.”

“No, Meta, I appreciate you.”

In the morning, Maddox flew directly to Geneva Headquarters to have a personal interview with the Lord High Admiral.

“Sir,” Maddox said from the chair before the great desk.

“Yes?” Cook said with a frown.

Maddox related how he did this, that and the other thing, and yet didn’t have enough money to take his wife on a month-long vacation and buy the latest—

“Oh, didn't I tell you?” the Lord High Admiral said, interrupting. “Planetary Plenipotentiary comes with a high salary. Your accumulated pay is waiting for you to claim it—just talk to my secretary and she’ll give you the details.”

“What?”

“Talk to my secretary. I think the extra pay is exactly what you need.”

Bemused, Maddox thanked the Lord High Admiral, took his leave and spoke to the secretary in the outer office.

She smiled, pulling out the paperwork and showing him the accumulated pay.

The amount astonished Maddox. It was more than a year of his former pay. He’d never thought much about money. Rarely did he need to use it for anything personal. But for his wife and child—he needed to think about them and not just about how he could complete a mission.

It appeared as if the Lord High Admiral had been looking out for him in several ways, including money.

Maddox soon left for home. There, he gave the good news to Meta. She clapped with delight. Then she paused as she lowered her hands. They were in the kitchen and Maddox was eating a sandwich that he’d made.

“Darling, I hope you don’t think this is all about money and that I don’t appreciate you.”

“No,” Maddox said, as he set the sandwich down. “I don’t think that at all. I take care of my crew and look after their needs. Now, well, you’re my first priority, darling. You and our dear little girl, and I promise to look after you two to the best of my ability. That means we’re taking this month-long vacation and we’re going to enjoy ourselves and have a grand old time. You have the new car and well, we’ll see if some of the house needs renovating. The Planetary Plenipotentiary position seems to be worth something after all: more pay.”

“I appreciate all of this,” Meta said. “It’s hard sometimes just sitting here, waiting.”

“I know. But you’re going to get some relief and we’re going to spend some good time together and enjoy each other. I love you, Meta.”

She came into his arms. “I love you, Maddox. I really do.”

They embraced.

Neither of them saw the ghostly holoimage who’d been watching and noting some of the dismay in the Maddox household.

Galyan knew he’d gone too far watching like this but he’d been worried about the captain after what had happened with him shouting in his quarters.

Galyan disappeared and went upstairs to Victory, glad that all was well with his family. He hoped Maddox would do for him what he was doing for Meta: keeping his promises.

With that, Galyan went to the bridge of Victory and waited for the next mission to start.

THE END

From the Author: Thanks Reader! I hope you’ve enjoyed THE LOST RELIC. If you liked the book and would like to see the story continue, please put up some stars and a review to support the series. Let me know what you would like Captain Maddox and the crew to challenge next!

-VH