The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3) (33 page)

“Where are we going?” Meta asked.

Kane focused on her, and he glanced at the hand on her shoulder. Slowly, he removed the hand. “You are mine, Meta.”

She said nothing, but a plan began to form in her mind.

“This time you will stay with me.” Kane stared into her eyes. Finally, he held out a hand.

Meta forced herself to move until her fingers touched his. Kane hauled her to her feet.

“Come,” he said. “Let us see Oran Rva. He will wish to examine you, perhaps test your fitness for the mission.”

One more time, Meta glanced at the porthole. It showed Starship
Victory
outside. Behind it was the Earth. Both the vessel and the planet grew smaller. Where was the New Man taking the shuttle?

-36-

Maddox pushed the air-car higher into the atmosphere. The blue had begun to fade away into darkness.

Riker stared out of the bubble canopy. “Makes a man feel insignificant. Can’t say that I like this in the slightest.”

The captain hardly heard the sergeant’s words. He focused on the task. The enemy kept one or even two steps ahead of them. It seemed clear they would try for the Builder egg. The nuclear blast in Monte Carlo had been a diversion. Now would be the perfect moment to stage—what would the enemy do? It seemed to him they would try what they had in the past.

Per Lomax had led a boarding team against
Victory
. With Star Watch codes, how many troopers would the enemy use to try to grab the starship?

“This is going to be hard without any communication,” Riker said. “Where is the starship in orbit exactly?”

“One thing at a time, Sergeant,” Maddox said.

Riker turned to him in wonder. “Don’t tell me you don’t know, sir.”

“Try the radio again,” Maddox suggested.

Riker stared at him another second. Then, the sergeant tried the radio. It was still dead. “That’s no good, sir.”

“Try your communicator.”

“Don’t have one on me, sir.”

“I have one,” Maddox said. He pulled it out and tried it. Nothing happened. “Hmm. That’s not good, as you say.”

“We have to go back down, sir,” Riker said.

“I don’t think so.”

“Begging your pardon—”

“Kindly shut up, Sergeant, and let me think.”

Riker nodded. “That’s it, sir. Take it out on me, why don’t you? I’m just the hapless enlisted man—”

“Sergeant,” Maddox warned.

Riker fell silent, once more staring out of the bubble canopy.

“I have an idea,” Maddox said in a bit. “It presupposes greater intelligence on Galyan’s part. I have to believe the AI is busy monitoring everything. That’s what the hyper-intelligent do.”

Riker kept quiet, fixedly staring at the now appearing stars.

“Yes, I understand, Sergeant. I’m a difficult taskmaster.” Maddox began to fiddle with the controls. He shut the engine on and off in exact sequences.

The fuel gage showed the air-car had just enough to get back to Earth if they started down now. Maddox had no intension of doing that, though. If the enemy had made his move for the egg, the doomsday machine was likely going to show up soon. The enemy must be able to track the planet-killer—if they truly possessed long-distance communicators.

“We need communication,” the captain said. “I want Keith to bring up a jumpfighter.”

Riker glanced at him. “Can I ask what you’re doing, sir?”

“It’s a simple enough expedient. I’m turning the engine on and off in Morse code sequences.”

“That’s it?”

“If my guess is correct,” Maddox said, “it should be enough.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand, sir.”

“Galyan must be monitoring everything around him,” Maddox said. “With his greater intelligence, I expect he’s gotten more curious about things.”

“He has machine intelligence,” the sergeant pointed out. “I imagine that’s quite different from human intelligence.”

“Perhaps,” Maddox said. “We’ll find out soon enough.”

As the air-car zoomed upward under its initial velocity, the captain continued to turn the engine on and off. The last atmospheric blue faded away. The stars shined around them. Soon, the Earth’s curvature took his breath away. It was beautiful up here. What had the sergeant said? It made a man feel small. Why should that be? What was there inherent in the human soul that felt insignificance at such grand beauty?

The minutes ticked away, five, ten and finally fifteen.

“It’s not working,” Riker declared.

“Then what is that out there?” Maddox asked, pointing at a bright spot in the starry distance.

“I don’t see anything, sir.”

“It’s growing.”

Riker glanced at him. “You’re imagining it.”

“I hope you’re wrong.”

Another five minutes proved Maddox right. Both of them could tell the outsized shape of Starship
Victory
. Galyan must be coming to get them.

“Sir, I don’t mean any disrespect saying this. But what you just did was a cockamamie piece of lunacy. We should both be doomed, waiting to fall to Earth like a shooting star. Sometimes, you push your luck too far.”

“It had nothing to do with luck,” Maddox said, “but heightened reasoning. I correctly estimated Galyan’s intelligence and his curiosity. I played the probabilities and—”

“Got lucky as can be, sir,” Riker said. “If you can’t see that…well, then you aren’t as smart as you like to believe yourself to be.”

“That will be all, Sergeant.”

“Yes, sir,” Riker said.

The two then waited in silence as the starship approached the drifting air-car.

***

Maddox stood on
Victory’s
bridge, speaking to Brigadier O’Hara in Geneva.

The captain had already learned the worst from a crestfallen Valerie. In order to function—
they’ve kidnapped Meta
—he concentrated on what he had to do to defeat them. He put his emotions in cold storage and icily decided what step to take first.

“Ma’am, I have bad news,” the captain said. His face felt numb, but he ignored that. A volcano of force bubbled beneath his calm exterior. “The enemy has acquired the Builder egg, I’m afraid.”

The brigadier blinked at him in shock. She sat at her desk in her office. Her eyes seemed like bright gems in a ghostly face. Maddox had never seen her like this before. Her shoulders sagged as she stared at him.

“They came in a Star Watch shuttle with orders from the Lord High Admiral’s office,” Maddox said. “It was all quite correct, I assure you.”

How…how can this be?” the brigadier asked. “They’re baffling us at every turn.” She scowled. “How is it you’re up in the starship and not in Geneva?”

Maddox explained what had happened and how he correctly guessed that the enemy would go for the egg.

“You should have raced straight here, Captain. I could have radioed
Victory
. We might have stopped their latest ploy if you’d done so.”

Maddox hesitated for just a moment. “Recriminations aren’t going to help us now.” He shifted his stance, as a shadow seemed to pass across his face. “They kidnapped Meta, poor girl. She brought them the egg.” For just a moment, Maddox lost focus. An animal in his heart snarled silently. Outwardly, he kept it chained. “It seems the shuttle vanished around the other side of the planet before I could board and warn my crew about the situation.”

O’Hara stared at him a little longer before saying, “I don’t know what to do. I’m baffled. What are our options?”

“Ma’am, I believe we’re operating against a New Man. They’ve sent their best person to Earth. He moves with bewildering speed. Because they grabbed the egg, it seems obvious they’re going to try to board the planet-killer.”

“To what purpose?” the brigadier asked.

“Why, to own the doomsday machine,” Maddox said.

“Yes…” the brigadier said, staring at her hands. She looked up. “Do you think it’s possible this…New Man can succeed?”

“If anyone can, he will. Yes, I believe it’s possible.”

“Normally, I would order you to stop him. But if he fails to board the doomsday machine, it will annihilate the Earth.”

“I request that you send me Keith Maker in a jumpfighter. Then, I will take care of the situation.”

“Just you by yourself, Captain?” O’Hara asked. “You can succeed where all of Star Watch has failed?”

“No,” Maddox said, “not just by myself. I’ll have my team with me. Galyan is sharper than ever. He is busy scouring the starship, fixing all the inoperative systems.”

“Do you mean the alien AI?”

“Yes.”

“It is an ‘it,’ not a ‘he,’” the brigadier said.

“Driving Force Galyan disagrees with you, Ma’am.”

The brigadier looked as if she wanted to argue. Finally, her shoulders deflated a little more “I’ll have to ask the admiral about this.”

“We don’t have time, Ma’am.”

“You see the doomsday machine?”

“If the enemy has snatched the egg, it must be because the planet-killer is near. I should leave Earth orbit immediately. The enemy has to reach the doomsday machine in order to implement his goal. Perhaps I can stop him before he does that.”

O’Hara studied Maddox. Did she see the ramrod stiffness in his stance, the glint in his eyes that spoke of steely determination?

“This is a disaster, Captain. The enemy truly is better, smarter and quicker than we regular mortals are. You, your alien ship and crew are going to have to deliver us from death. The Home Fleet will fight, but if you’re right about what happened to the Wahhabi Fleet in New Arabia—God help humanity.”

“I think He is,” Maddox said, softly. “We have a fighting chance with this ship.”

“What is your plan?” O’Hara asked. “You lack the egg. You lack a key such as the one Ludendorff gave Per Lomax. I don’t see that you can board the doomsday machine. Even if you could, how could you succeed where Per Lomax failed?”

“Do you really want me to divulge my plan?” Maddox asked. “It’s quite possible enemy ears are listening to our conversation.”

O’Hara searched his face and smiled sadly. “This is why you went into the Beyond, searching for the impossible. This is why I took a gamble with you from the beginning. No, Captain, do not tell me your plan. As to your request, I will send your ace with the required fighter. Godspeed, Captain. Defeat our foe. We’ll do everything we can to help you. Brigadier O’Hara out.”

Maddox faced Valerie. The lieutenant continued to scowl at her board. She’d been sullen ever since she told him the terrible news.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Maddox told her for the tenth time. He wasn’t sure if he was saying it to convince her or to convince himself.

Valerie looked up. “Then whose fault was it, sir?” she asked in a bitter voice.

“It was all of ours.”

The lieutenant shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t accept that line of bull crap, Captain.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“Excuse me, sir,” Valerie said. “I mean to say that I don’t accept your line of reasoning. I made the decision to send Meta to get the egg. I was in charge. I gave the enemy what they came for. It was my fault and no one else’s. Worse, I let them kidnap Meta. I am sick inside. I’m so sorry, sir.”

Maddox focused on the lieutenant. Her wellbeing was his responsibility. Valerie was part of his crew. They were going to need everyone in top form soon. They were going up against the enemy’s A team. The lieutenant was badly in need of encouragement. But Valerie Noonan wasn’t just anyone. She was the welfare kid who had fought against the elitists and won. The captain believed he knew the right angle to take with her.

Taking his own sorrow in hand, Maddox concentrated on the next step with Valerie.

“I see,” he said. “You’re going to wallow in your defeat, are you?”             

Valerie sat up with her features stiffening.

“You lost me my woman, Lieutenant. I do not appreciate then this defeatist manner. If you cannot remain at your post because you want to sulk, tell me now so I can find someone who can do her duty.”

Valerie’s face turned red.

“I want people who fight through to the bitter end. I don’t want quitters, Lieutenant. Which are you, I’d like to know now?”

Lieutenant Noonan’s eyes burned with outrage even as tears glistened in them.

Maddox nodded. “I like that much better, Lieutenant. You’re angry. Good. Now you listen to me. One of the most dangerous men in the world tricked you. That man has run circles around Star Watch Intelligence. That man slipped an assassin into the highest levels of command. He even reached out to Pluto and ordered my arrest. We’re not dealing with a few uppity cadets at the Space Academy. We’re dealing with the most ruthless man alive. You’re frustrated for being beaten. Worse, he pulled your trousers down around your ankles, as it were.”

Valerie looked away.

Maddox stopped. It was time to let her reason it out for herself.

Soon, the lieutenant shook her head. She squared her shoulders. Without facing him, Valerie said, “You’re right, sir. I was acting like a spoiled, rich-kid cadet just now. But I’m a Star Watch line officer. It’s time to fight.”

“It’s time to outthink our enemy,” Maddox added.

Valerie faced him with fire in her eyes. “That’s
your
task, sir. You think like the New Men much better than any of us can because you’re like them.”

Maddox felt a stab of annoyance at her words.

Valerie smiled grimly. “You have their blood, sir. You’re quicker and smarter—”

“That’s quite enough, Lieutenant.”

She stared him in the eyes. “I’m just saying, sir. You don’t like being the hybrid, the one who’s different from everyone else. But I’m glad you are different. I trust you with my life. We all do, sir. You have to accept who you are. Now, you have to use the New Man side of you, sir. You have to beat their A team by being ours.”