The Lost Patrol (17 page)

Maddox jumped back, surprised by the appearance. He realized he’d become too absorbed with his boxing. Only now did he realize the professor made him…anxious would probably be the right word. Ludendorff always had something up his sleeve.

“I’m quicker?” Maddox asked.

“Fractionally so,” Galyan said. “Perhaps in trying to compensate for the Spacer toxin, your body fought back. Now that the toxin has dissipated, you have gained the tiniest bit. Instead of harming you, the Spacers have actually aided you.”

The holoimage smiled.

“What now?” Maddox asked.

“Could this have been Shu’s true purpose?” Galyan asked. “Was the toxin actually meant as an aid?”

“I doubt it.”

“That rings true to form,” Galyan said. “My analysis of your personality has shown me that you do not anticipate outside help from anyone.”

“That’s quite enough,” Maddox said.

“I have found that self-examination is a helpful process—”

“Galyan!” Maddox said.

The holoimage stopped talking.

“We will leave off this line of conversation. That is an order.”

“Yes, Captain,” Galyan said. “Oh. By the way, Professor Ludendorff has a message for you.”

“What is it?” Maddox asked guardedly.

“He hopes to meet with you personally before you begin the joint venture to the Nexus.”

“Why?”

“He has a favor he wants to ask. He said it is most urgent.”

Maddox used his teeth to begin pulling off the leather gloves. Ludendorff wanted a favor. He didn’t like the sound of that.

-27-

Many hours later, Lieutenant Noonan was on the bridge, sitting in the captain’s chair. On the main screen, she watched a shuttle leave Ludendorff’s luxury yacht.

There were plenty of asteroids in the way. Farther off was the Nexus. From here, it was a bright point. In a few minutes, the point would slide behind another asteroid.

Valerie was nervous. Each time they came to the Xerxes System, something unexpected and bad happened.

Ever since entering the system this time, a pressure had begun to build up in her head. It was a subtle feeling of an alien threat. The New Men were bad enough. This felt worse, something
inhuman
.

That bothered her, especially as she tried hard these days to be cheerful. She’d gone to several seminars back on Earth. The speakers suggested that people made their own luck, whether good or bad. If one thought negatively, she created the soil, as it were, for bad seeds to sprout and flourish. If one thought positively, the opposite happened.

Life constantly threw you curves. How you reacted made the difference. And Valerie believed that. She’d always been negative, and bad things always happened to her. Yet, she believed, the captain thought positively, and he’d made it through many disasters. If she was going to make something out of her life, she’d better start thinking positively too.

That was hard, though. Something bad was just waiting to happen. She could feel it, and she knew that she had a sense for these things. The captain always pulled the craziest assignments. Maybe it had something to do with
Victory
. Everyone serving aboard the ancient Adok starship seemed destined for endless bad luck.

Galyan was proof of that. What a terrible existence, to be alive but a ghost of an AI. The Adok’s soul had witnessed his race’s death. Now, Galyan continued to linger, drawing bad luck onto himself and everyone around him.

Why am I so morbid? We annihilated the Destroyer. We’ve beaten our enemies each time. We saved humanity from the New Men. How can I call any of that bad luck? We’ve had fantastic luck each time.

Valerie continued to think positively, fighting against her basic nature. Her dad had been the world’s greatest pessimist, complaining about everything. Not that she blamed him. If she’d lost her legs—

“That’s strange,” said Henry Smith-Fowler, the blond-haired weapons officer.

“What’s wrong?” Valerie asked, as worry spiked her chest.

“I just picked up a foreign radiation signature,” Smith-Fowler said.

“Where?”

“Between us and the professor’s shuttle.”

“Zoom in,” Valerie said. “I want to see this. I also want you to ready a tractor beam and a neutron cannon.”

Smith-Fowler tapped his panel.

The main screen wavered for just a moment. Then, Valerie saw a blue exhaust simply appear and lengthen.

“Why don’t I see anything at the front of the exhaust?” she demanded.

“I suspect because the object is cloaked,” Smith-Fowler said dryly.

“Beam it.”

Smith-Fowler glanced at her before he tapped a control. A neutron beam lashed into existence, stabbing into the starry void.

“Lieutenant,” Smith-Fowler said, “I think the hidden object has a distortion field.”

“Fire again but this time in a spread,” Valerie said. “Lock onto it at the same time with the tractor beam and begin pulling it toward us.”

Smith-Fowler manipulated his controls. “I can’t lock onto anything because nothing appears to be there.”

“By the direction of the exhaust plume, it’s headed for the shuttle,” Valerie observed.

“Agreed,” Smith-Fowler said.

Three more times, the neutron beam slashed into the void. Each time, nothing more happened.

The shuttle began evasive maneuverers while expelling chaff and decoy emitters. Another long blue tail appeared. This one was farther out. It headed for the luxury yacht.

“What’s happening?” Valerie shouted. As soon as she did that, she silently berated herself. As acting captain, she had to remain calm. That helped others stay calm.

“Someone must have slipped the stealth objects into position quite some time ago,” Smith-Fowler said.

Valerie’s heart rate increased. “We have to protect the professor, as he’s our key to using the Nexus. Galyan,” she called. “I need your assistance.”

Nothing happened.

“Galyan!”

At that point, on the screen, the hidden missile with the visible exhaust exploded near the evading shuttle.

Valerie bit a knuckle, straining to see the results. It showed several seconds later as the blast evaporated. The shuttle had become expanding debris. The warhead had destroyed it and surely killed everyone onboard.

The Adok holoimage now appeared on the bridge.

“Take over targeting,” Valerie told Galyan.

“You do not have the authority to give me override rights,” Galyan said. “That belongs to the captain alone.”

“Then call him or go see him,” Valerie shouted. “Tell him what’s happening.”

At that moment, the second missile exploded. This one hadn’t made it as close to its target. The blast struck the yacht’s shield, turning it a deep shade of red. The shield held, however, and the yacht remained intact.

“Are there any more of those things?” Valerie demanded.

“Not that I can detect,” Smith-Fowler said, hunched over his panel.

Valerie kept staring at the main screen. Someone had attacked and destroyed the professor’s shuttle. What were they going to do if Ludendorff was dead?

-28-

Maddox listened to Galyan explain what had happened.

The captain had waited in a room near the selected hangar bay so he could immediately greet Ludendorff. He now sat stoically, considering the possibilities of this latest development.

“You are taking this much more calmly than is your usual wont,” Galyan said.

Maddox focused on the holoimage. “This is the Xerxes System, and we’re talking about the professor. I expect the unexpected here. I’ve also learned to distrust the first report of Ludendorff’s death. Besides, if there were hidden drones waiting for the professor, I believe he would have known that.”

The captain grew thoughtful again. “Have we contacted the yacht yet?”

“Yes. Lieutenant Noonan spoke to Doctor Dana Rich.”

“How did Dana take the news?”

“Like you,” Galyan said.

Maddox rubbed his chin, concentrating. Soon, he asked, “What were Ludendorff’s driving characteristics?”

“He was brilliant,” Galyan said promptly.

“And?”

“He was deceptive.”

“He also had access to one of the most remarkable tools in Human Space: a long-range communicator. With it, he could send and receive messages across many light years.”

“I do not see the connection of the communicator to his death,” Galyan said.

“Consider,” Maddox said. “Might there be something in the Deep Beyond that neither the Spacers nor the Methuselah Men want the other side to get?”

“You speak as if Strand and Ludendorff are on one side.”

“Maybe against the Spacers they are,” Maddox said.

“This is interesting,” Galyan said. “Please continue.”

“The Spacers slipped into the Xerxes System several weeks ago. Admiral Sanchez had to order them out. Now, cloaked weaponry has destroyed Ludendorff’s shuttle but failed to destroy his yacht. I think Ludendorff wants us to believe the Spacers attempted to kill him. We will likely discover that he has miraculously survived. The payoff for the professor will be in demanding that Shu go back to Earth.”

Galyan’s eyelids fluttered. “That would mean someone on Earth told Ludendorff about Shu’s coming.”

“Thus,” Maddox said, “the reason why Ludendorff’s long-distance communicator becomes so important.”

“How certain are you that this is the actual case?”

“Fifty percent,” Maddox said.

“What is the other possibility—in your opinion?”

“That the Spacers really tried to kill the professor,” Maddox said. “They don’t want any Methuselah Man on the other side of the hyper-spatial tube.”

“What is on the other side?” Galyan asked.

“Yes,” Maddox said. “That is the question.”

The captain put his hands behind his back and began to pace. “Humanity as a whole is stronger because there are more of us. But the others—the Methuselah Men and the chief Spacers—have the advantage of knowledge. Each of them wants to use
Victory
for their own ends. The problem is that we don’t know how to use the Nexus on our own. We need one of them in order to use the pyramid.”

“This is most perplexing,” Galyan said. “I miss the old days when we had just one enemy and it was a matter of velocities and trajectories. It was much simpler then.”

“I must return to the bridge,” Maddox said to himself. “Come, Galyan.”

***

A little later, Maddox spoke via screen to Dana from
Victory’s
bridge.

The doctor was as beautiful as ever, although her hair was a little longer than before. Dana Rich’s features were calm and dusky as she sat in a chair.

“How soon until you can board our yacht?” Dana asked.

“I have no intention of coming aboard,” Maddox said. “I suggest you gather your belongings and transfer onto
Victory
.”

“To what purpose?” Dana asked. “The voyage is over before it began. Without Ludendorff, we can’t use the Nexus.”

“That is false,” Maddox said. “I have another person aboard
Victory
who possibly knows how to activate the Nexus.”

“You can’t mean Meta.”

Meta had been inside the Nexus once with Kane, a New Man spy. Kane had used the Nexus to jump over one hundred light-years to the Wolf Prime System.

“Ah,” Maddox said. “I’d forgotten about Meta. Make that two people who can help me use the Nexus.”

“Captain—that’s impossible.”

“I assure you it isn’t.”

Dana pursed her lips as she studied him. “I can’t come anyway. The professor’s death was the final straw. I’m done, Captain.”

“Perhaps you’ll come aboard for old time’s sake,” Maddox suggested.

“No. I’m finished. I do have a few items the professor wished you to have. He would have wanted me to give them to you myself.”

“Oh. Well, that means you’ll have to come onto
Victory
.”

“I’m not setting foot on the haunted starship again, Captain. It has too many bitter memories for me.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Maddox said. “I suppose I’ll have to forgo getting the late professor’s items then, as I have no intention of leaving
Victory
just now.”

Valerie swung around, motioning to him.

Maddox ignored the lieutenant.

“You can’t be serious,” Dana said. “These items are priceless.”

“You have my condolences,” Maddox told the doctor. “If you change your mind, you’re welcome aboard. It has been a pleasure knowing you. Good bye, Doctor Rich.”

Maddox motioned the comm officer. Ensign Daggett tapped her panel, and the main screen went blank.

“Sir,” Valerie said.

Maddox raised a hand. “Hold your thought, Lieutenant. Ensign, put me through to the admiral.”

In moments, Admiral Sanchez appeared on the main screen.

“The professor is dead,” Maddox said without preamble. “I would dearly appreciate it if you could bring the entire flotilla to my position.”

“I can,” Sanchez said. “I mean, I will. Do you have a reason?”

“Yes,” Maddox said. “Spacers. It appears the hidden missiles were of Spacer origin.”

“We haven’t determined that yet,” Valerie said in the background.

“I am preparing to meet a Spacer ambush,” Maddox told the admiral. “But I would like to have your firepower nearby.”

“I’m coming at once,” Sanchez said, sitting straighter. “We’ll be there in thirteen hours. Is there anything else?”

“That will do for now,” Maddox said. “Thank you.”

The screen went blank.

“Sir?” Valerie asked. “What’s going on? You’re reacting strangely to the professor’s—”

“Save it,” Maddox said sternly, interrupting. “I know what I’m doing.”

“But…”

He gave Valerie a significant look, one that said, “Trust me.”

The lieutenant nodded after a moment.

Maddox settled into his command chair, determined to wait for the others—whoever they were—to make their next move.