The Lost Secret

by Vaughn Heppner

  “That is a leading question. Are you really concerned about the answer?”

  “Only so much as it might tell me more about your ultimate loyalties.”

  “I serve at Balron’s request because his thoughts were the primary cause of my creation,” Half-Life said. “However, I have good thoughts toward Professor Ludendorff as well. The professor could have erred in many ways, but he built me precisely to Balron’s specifications. I am enjoying my time among you humans—”

  “Let me interrupt you, Half-Life,” Maddox said.

  “Are not interruptions considered rude?”

  “Like many things, it depends.”

  “Why did you interrupt me just now?”

  “We’re trying to figure out if this is the Library Planet system,” Maddox said. “Would you tell us—?”

  “Yes,” Half-Life said. “Your starship survived the perilous journey. Let me see—I am borrowing your ship sensors. It is a small override—oh, yes. We are in the system’s Kuiper Belt, very near the edge of the inner Oort cloud.”

  “Which one is the Library Planet?” Maddox asked.

  “The second terrestrial world from the dwarf star,” Half-Life said. “You can put away your blaster, by the way. I do not intend you, the crew or the ship any harm.”

  Maddox nodded as he tucked the blaster under his belt. “Do you sense any alien vessels in the vicinity?”

  “I suppose you are referring to the New Men and their star cruisers.”

  “I am,” Maddox said. “How many do you see?”

  “None, which is not conclusive,” Half-Life said. “If star cruisers are at the Library Planet, I would not be able to sense them for quite some time. I should not have to tell you about the speed of light restrictions with sensors.”

  “You don’t have superior sensors you can use?” Maddox asked.

  “Like the Long-Range Builder Scanner inside Pluto?” Half-Life asked.

  “Exactly,” Maddox said.

  “No. I do not.”

  “Then, how do you teleport so precisely from one place to the next?”

  “Ah… That is clever, Captain. Of course, I am not going to tell you—”

  “Maddox,” Ludendorff said, as he hurried onto the bridge. “Are we here? Did we make it? Oh! Half-Life, what are you doing here? Did that little thing help us after all?”

  “We’re in the Library Planet system,” Maddox said.

  “What part?” Ludendorff asked fast.

  “The Kuiper Belt,” Maddox said. “Is there something we should know that you’ve failed to tell us?”

  “No,” Ludendorff said. “I suspect Strand has convinced the New Men to release him so he can come here before I do. I urge caution, extreme caution. Strand is tricky and the New Men deadly. I know you know this, but a reminder is in order. We’re far from home, over seventeen hundred light-years. This could be a dangerous star system and we should proceed accordingly.”

  The captain nodded curtly. The professor made cogent points. “Andros, Galyan, please begin a hard scan of the system. Catalog everything you can.”

  “I can help,” Half-Life said.

  “Don’t override any more sensors,” Maddox told him. “The verdict is still out on you.”

  “I helped you reach the star system,” Half-Life said.

  Maddox moved to his seat, sitting down, staring at the main screen. The professor was right. They’d been farther from home, from Human Space before, but this was damn far just the same. A few precautions were in order, as he wanted to make it home again. What was the correct course of action now?

  Maddox turned his seat, facing Ludendorff and Half-Life. “Professor, how does one get from the surface ice you’ve spoken about to the Builder tunnels below?”

  “There are housings on the ice,” Ludendorff said, “the terminus or beginning of deep-shaft elevators, depending on how you look at it. Mind you, this was long ago, centuries. They should be there, with the emphasis on should.”

  “Thank you,” Maddox said. “Half-Life, you’re Balron’s confederate. We’re supposed to meet him somewhere. Do you happen to know when we’re going to meet him and if the New Men reach him first—given they really are out here?”

  The hovering blue object dipped down and then rose back to his former position. “Could I speak to you alone, Captain?”

  Maddox eyed the alien head holoimage and the metal ball projecting it. “We can go into my ready room. However, I’m going to request Galyan, Ludendorff and my wife to join us. Do you have an objection to that?”

  “I wish to speak to you alone,” Half-Life said.

  “I realize that,” Maddox said. “However, I don’t trust you alone. I want witnesses.”

  “I am here to help,” Half-Life insisted.

  Maddox shrugged.

  “What if I keep my information to myself?” Half-Life asked.

  “It’s your call,” Maddox said. “I’m not changing my mind on this.”

  “You are a stubborn man,” Half-Life said.

  Maddox waited.

  “Very well,” Half-Life said. “What I am supposed to tell you is critical. I accept your conditions but do so under duress.”

  “You ready?” asked Maddox.

  “I was born ready,” Half-Life said, “as this mission is the reason for my existence. I do suggest haste, however, as the scheduled events are surely about to begin.”

  -58-

  A few minutes later, Maddox, Meta, Galyan and Ludendorff sat or stood in various locations in the ready room. Half-Life hovered in the middle, the Ardazirho holoimage wolf-head projected as earlier.

  “Balron is my primary cause,” Half-Life said. “He is a unique creature caught in a terrible temporal dilemma. I do not know the duration of his imprisonment, but I have come to believe it is long indeed, hundreds or possibly thousands of years.”

  “Are you suggesting that Galyan was correct about Balron being caught in a temporal loop?” asked Ludendorff.

  “Essentially,” Half-Life said.

  “Then how could one possibly count Balron’s so-called entrapment in terms of years?” Ludendorff asked. “You see, by what you said, you’re implying that Balron runs through the same time period over and over again. Logically, he has only run through that particular or singular passage and no more.”

  “You are grossly incorrect,” Half-Life said. “Consider: if Balron has replayed the same length of time—half a year, for instance—and he has done so ten thousand times, then he would logically have lived in the loop for five thousand years.”

  “That sounds like hairsplitting to me,” Ludendorff said. “You implied he doesn’t remember much from any singular run of a loop, or the string of a particular time run. Thus, he senses the passage of half a year, to use your example, and no more—well, possibly there is a feeling something is wrong. It could have hardly been more than a small feeling, though. It’s obvious if you examine the example you’ve given, as it has taken ten thousand loops for him to realize his true condition. Thus, he could have hardly been aware that each loop was a repeat, and thus he has not felt the great passage of years.”

  “I do not understand your first phrase, this hairsplitting,” Half-Life said.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Captain Maddox said crossly. “We’re not interested in the theoretical possibilities, but how to do this.”

  “That’s not right,” Ludendorff said. “Correct theories are critical. From them, we derive correct actions. But, in any case,” he said, perhaps noticing the captain’s growing impatience, “despite his length of entrapment, given that Balron is imprisoned in this temporal loop, how did he reach Victory?”

  “Let me answer this way,” Half-Life said, “if I have the captain’s permission to enlarge upon the matter.”

  “Go ahead,” Maddox said. “Just don’t take too long.”

  “I understand,” Half-Life said. “Time and temporal displacements have…unnatural limitations due to the inconsistency of time travel. I
am not speaking about a man in a machine that can bounce from one time to another. As far as I know, that is impossible. Instead, Balron has been caught in a temporal loop. He can go so far in linear time—just as any of us can—and then he is jerked back to begin again from the same starting temporal and spatial location.”

  “You mean Balron reappears back where he started the loop?” asked Ludendorff.

  “That is what I said,” Half-Life replied.

  “But…” Ludendorff said, as he scowled at the floor. “There’s an inconsistency here.” He looked up. “Whatever powers the entrapment yanked him away from the star system with the warped-space bubbles, presumably because he’d come to the end of the temporal run. What I’m saying is that his time in the linear string of the particular loop was over and thus—poof, he started again at the beginning of the loop. Yet, if this is the case, why should Balron think to meet us here in the Library Planet System? We’re outside or farther in time than his temporal loop. In essence, Balron has missed his chance with us—unless in some manner going through the hyper-spatial tube sent us back in time to meet Balron here.”

  “You are obfuscating the issue by weaving this tissue of nonsense,” Half-Life said. “The important point—”

  “I don’t see how I’m obfuscating anything,” Ludendorff said. “I have a valid point. You need to address it if you desire our trust.”

  Maddox was staring at Ludendorff until he finally said, “You’re right, Professor. If Balron disappeared because he’d come to the end of the loop—and he restarted the loop at the beginning—we’re beyond him in linear time.” The captain turned to Half-Life. “What’s really happening? Your time loop story is no longer logical, which means it was just a cover to hide the truth.”

  “You are grossly wrong,” Half-Life said. “I have spoken the truth. What you do not understand is that there are other parameters in play. So, that being the case—”

  “Suppose that’s true,” Ludendorff said, interrupting. “That we don’t know all the facts. I do need to know this. Who trapped Balron in this insane loop?”

  “An alien using an experimental Builder machine,” Half-Life said. “The alien was exceedingly crafty but died due to his own greed. Now, please, we are running out of time. Balron has instructed me to tell you—”

  “Sir,” Galyan said. “I am sorry for yet another interruption, but this is critically important. I thought about what the professor just said concerning our going back in time—needing to for Balron and Half-Life’s explanation to make sense—and decided to test the hypothesis. Through examining various stars, I have indeed discovered a temporal anomaly. Instead of going back in time, however, we are several days ahead of time and that means—”

  “Enough of this,” Half-Life said, interrupting. “We must proceed at once as Balron instructed, as we have no more time to dally about on nonsense or side issues.”

  “How did you cause our leap in time?” Galyan demanded. “Did the Yon Soth have anything to do with it? Had it tampered with the nexus or the hyper-spatial-tube machine? Was the hyper-spatial tube a time portal as well? Is that why the space-warped bubbles were everywhere, the star system was no longer in sync with the rest of the universe?”

  “You are no longer needed on this mission,” Half-Life said. “Thus, I will silence your endless spouting of nonsense.” The little blue globe began to glow.

  “Sir,” Galyan said, as his holoimage became hazy. “Half-Life is assaulting my AI core. Help me, sir, I need help or—”

  Maddox drew the blaster tucked under his belt. He aimed from the hip, the beam striking the glowing construct.

  “Are you insane?” Half-Life demanded. “You desperately need me if you are going to survive the coming conflict. It is important that—warning, warning, I am about to destruct! Cease your attack! Warning, warning—”

  As he beamed, Maddox sidled closer to his wife. Even as he continued to blast the construct, he dragged Meta down with him behind the desk.

  Half-Life exploded, sending hot shrapnel throughout the ready room.

  Ludendorff had grown increasing worried during the beaming and had adjusted a device worn on his belt. Hot shrapnel struck centimeters before him, stopping and dropping to the floor. Immediately after that, the shimmering shield around the professor ceased radiating.

  Galyan began to brighten even as shrapnel flew through his holoimage, doing him absolutely no harm.

  The Ardazirho holoimage wolf-head was gone, as Half-Life no longer projected it. The construct was destroyed, gone, taking whatever information he’d been about to impart to them.

  Maddox and Meta climbed to their feet, checking themselves and then the damage to the desk and the ready room.

  The hatch opened and a worried Andros Crank looked in.

  “We’re fine,” Maddox said. “We’re assessing the situation ourselves. You can go.”

  Andros nodded before leaving, the hatch shutting behind him.

  “You destroyed Half-Life,” Ludendorff declared. “I realize we’ve discovered inconsistencies to his tale, but was terminating him the wisest move?”

  “Wise or not,” Maddox said, “Half-Life was destroying Galyan. Thus, I destroyed the construct first.”

  “I most humbly thank you, sir,” Galyan said. “Half-Life was indeed attacking me. Your quick-draw shot likely saved my life—I hope you will allow me to phrase it that way: that I have life.”

  “Of course you can,” Meta said. “I’m glad you survived his assault.”

  “Thank you, Meta,” Galyan said. “I, too, am glad. I still wonder how Half-Life achieved—”

  Ludendorff collapsed abruptly, thumping onto his butt. Bewildered, the professor looked up at Meta and Maddox.

  Meta raced to him, grabbed a hand, lifting him to his feet and directing him to a chair.

  Ludendorff grunted as he sat down. “It appears I’m having an episode.”

  “No,” Meta said quietly, “it’s a delayed reaction from Half-Life exploding. He almost killed us.”

  Ludendorff nodded, pulling out a handkerchief and mopping a suddenly sweaty forehead. “This reminds me of the time Batrun’s head exploded. Do you remember that?” he asked Maddox.

  “All too well,” Maddox said. “It nearly killed you.”

  “My quick action saved me today,” Ludendorff said. “I have a personal shield. It doesn’t last long. This time, it didn’t have to. Did you distrust Half-Life all along?”

  “No,” Maddox said. “You uncovered his lie, Galyan uncovered more and then the construct attacked Galyan. I had the blaster. I fired to save our companion.”

  “I am glad you think of me like that, sir,” Galyan said.

  “You’re part of my crew,” Maddox said. “I defend my crew. Are you feeling better, Professor?”

  “Marginally,” Ludendorff said. He studied the shrapnel lying on the floor. “If Balron isn’t a time traveler…what is he? Why did he do the things he did to us: I mean having me build Half-Life and him medically killing you? Balron had to have a reason. Why hint at a temporal loop and have Half-Life give us that cock and bull story?”

  “Those are logical questions, Professor,” Galyan said. “I will add another. Why did Balron have Half-Life send us several days into the future? There is yet one more: how did Half-Life manage the feat?”

  “We’re in a time warp then?” Ludendorff asked.

  “I doubt that is the case,” Galyan said. “Rather, according to my calculations, we lost a few days, and we cannot recapture them. In some manner, Half-Life or the Yon Soth manipulated the nexus to send us several days ahead in time.”

  “Why would either of them do that?” Maddox asked.

  “Half-Life said it before he exploded, sir,” Galyan said. “He was trying to time our arrival or our next action with something Balron has planned.”

  “Yes…” Maddox said. “That makes sense. But if Balron isn’t a time traveler, why or how did he know we’d need to jump ahead a few days in time?”


  “This is just wonderful,” Ludendorff complained. “Balron was trying to trick us with this temporal loop nonsense. Half-Life must have known more that would have helped us solve the riddle or the mystery. We once put together Batrun’s cybertronic computer brain after you sliced it with your monofilament blade, but I have no way of reassembling Half-Life from the pieces on the floor.”

  “You made him once,” Maddox said.

  “Under Balron’s guidance or influence,” Ludendorff said. “No. What you’re suggesting is like a man squishing a fly and then asking a scientist to reassemble the parts so the fly can live again. It can’t be done—not with our limited science, anyway.”

  Maddox pinched his lower lip. “Half-Life and, it would seem, Balron, helped us escape the other star system and escape the Sovereign Hierarchy warship. For that, I almost feel bad about destroying the construct.”

  “Unless…” Ludendorff said, becoming thoughtful. He looked up suddenly. “What if Balron put the location of the nexus in my mind while he was giving me data how to construct Half-Life? I haven’t been able to remember how I knew about the nexus. That’s the only reasonable explanation I can think of.”

  “Why would Balron do that?” Maddox asked.

  Ludendorff’s eyes narrowed. “Timing must have been a reason, as Half-Life went to great lengths to time our arrival here. Maybe your change—the strengthening of your sixth sense—needed more time to become a part of you or maybe it’s only going to last for a short span. That was why you had to get here faster through a nexus. Certainly, if my new theory is correct, Balron sent us to a strange star system with its warped-space bubbles, a Yon Soth, a nexus and a damned giant spaceship from S.H. Leviathan.”

  “Why give us the temporal loop tale?”

  Ludendorff nodded slowly. “I’m beginning to suspect there was more to that than just a cover story. Maybe it was a partial truth.”

  “A partial truth how?” asked Maddox.

  “Honestly, I don’t know,” Ludendorff said. “I’m still pondering the situation. Balron has shown fantastic abilities and powers. His needing us shows one thing for sure: he has limitations for whatever he’s hoping to achieve. It seems clear the Library Planet system is where he hopes to gain whatever he’s after. I’m beginning to wonder how he ever found us—” The professor straightened. “It has to be you. The Erill soul energy in you—that must have been what drew him to our vessel in the first place. The Erill energy in you is the critical factor. I’m sure of it.”