The Lost Secret

by Vaughn Heppner

  “If you’re going to stay calm,” Ludendorff said, puffing. “You should slow down.”

  Maddox halted, practiced the Way of the Pilgrim and truly settled his mind. He noticed something then. “Are they standing in front of something?”

  “Just a second,” Riker said in a gruff voice. “I’m not thinking at all. I’ll use my bionic eye, the zoom function.” The sergeant’s head moved forward, and he grunted a moment later. “It’s Strand all right. Golden Ural is with him.”

  “My uncle, eh?” said Maddox.

  “I don’t see anyone else,” Riker said. “But yeah, they’re standing before a huge block of stone, or a great big hunk of metal. It looks as if they’re addressing it.”

  “Why didn’t we see the stone or metal hunk before?” Ludendorff asked.

  “Its color blends in with the surroundings,” Riker said. “I can’t see what they see. We have to get closer, get in front of the block.”

  “Whoever is in charge here must be using the block to communicate with my uncle,” Maddox said.

  Riker’s head resumed its normal position as he rubbed the skin around the bionic eye.

  “Something wrong?” asked Ludendorff.

  “My eye must be malfunctioning,” Riker muttered. “I can’t use zoom anymore.”

  Maddox nodded thoughtfully. “It wants us close, and it just figured out what you were doing. You probably shouldn’t have spoken of it. It’s listening.”

  “Who is?” asked Riker.

  “That’s what we’re going to find out,” Maddox said, as he resumed his march toward Strand and Ural, but this time, at a slower, more deliberate pace.

  -84-

  When Maddox and the others were halfway there, Golden Ural jerked his head, fully faced them and turned back to Strand, obviously speaking rapidly. Strand turned to look, and the dwarf hunched his thin shoulders.

  Maddox laughed in an ugly way. I should just walk up and punch him in the face. That would feel good. No! What am I thinking? My calm is gone. Once more, he used the Way of the Pilgrim, trying to restore his calm. Despite everything, however, he fixed his gaze upon Strand.

  Maddox halted. You can’t let Strand live in your mind rent-free. It’s time to kick him out. As Maddox decided that, he noticed Ural talking to the great rectangle of metal.

  It was huge: fifty meters high, maybe twenty wide and thirty thick. The rectangle was in the exact center of the massive auditorium. They approached from the side and thus couldn’t see the front or back of it.

  Maddox turned to Ludendorff. “Does any of this jog a memory?”

  “I’m afraid not,” Ludendorff said. “Shouldn’t we continue?”

  “Right,” Maddox said, resuming the march but avoiding looking at Strand as he focused on the herculean metal rectangle.

  Soon, they reached hailing distance, but no one shouted. Ural did not regard the metal and no longer spoke to Strand. He eyed Maddox and appeared to be waiting.

  Thirty meters separated them, twenty and finally ten. Maddox halted, Riker and Ludendorff stopping a little behind him, one on each side.

  “Hello, Uncle,” Maddox said.

  Ural dipped his head in greeting.

  Maddox motioned to Riker and Ludendorff. As a group, they remained ten meters from Ural and Strand, but moved so they could see the front of the metal rectangle.

  Unsurprisingly, it showed a giant screen. On the screen was a vast green head unlike any Maddox had seen before. It wasn’t a human head exactly. It had cords as a Medusa might have snakes. The cords were thick and wriggled slightly, and they covered three-quarters of the thing’s green head. It had two normal eyes, a nose of sorts and a mouth with green teeth. With a start, Maddox realized the thing on the giant screen studied him.

  “Hello, Captain Maddox,” the thing on the screen said in a liquid voice. “You have brought along Professor Ludendorff and Sergeant Riker of Star Watch. Yes. Greetings, wayward Methuselah Man Ludendorff. You have finally returned home.”

  “Who are you?” Ludendorff asked, sounding shrill.

  “All in good time, Professor,” the green head said. “Ural, you may speak to your nephew now if you wish.”

  “Captain Maddox,” Ural said. “I’d like to say it’s good to see you.” The New Man shifted his eyes to indicate the watching green head. “But this might not be a propitious moment for either of us.”

  Maddox understood the significance signal, but he couldn’t take it anymore. “Strand, do remember me?”

  The dwarf didn’t flinch, but he rubbed a cheek. “I remember,” he said, his calculating eyes seeming to take in everything.

  “There’s a history between you two?” asked the green head.

  Through an effort of will, Maddox tore his gaze from Strand as he looked up at the giant head on the screen. Concentrate on what counts. Maddox breathed in the Way, breathed once more…a calm settled upon him. He bowed, making a sweeping gesture with his right arm. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir. May I have the honor of knowing your name?”

  The giant green head studied Maddox before saying, “I am the Supreme Intelligence of the Library Planet. I have many questions for you, sir. My sensors tell me you’ve been in contact with Balron the Traveler.”

  A chill began in Maddox’s heart and worked its way through his limbs. The Way of the Pilgrim—peace and confidence—he smiled, but it was weak, and for once, tremulous.

  “My understanding about Balron disturbs you?” asked the Supreme Intelligence.

  Maddox wanted to meditate, but there was no more time. He made a quick mental calculation and weighed it against his sixth sense, deciding— Use the truth. Let that be your weapon. “Yes. Your understanding disturbs me, sir. May I ask you a question?”

  “You just did,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “But I detect the drift of what you are doing. I might consider your next question impertinent. Thus, you desire to mollify me in advance.”

  “Yes,” Maddox said.

  “Very well. Ask your question.”

  “Are you a computer or AI entity?”

  The eyes in the giant green face fixed upon Maddox so they seemed to bore into him. “I am the Supreme Intelligence. That is not to say of the universe, our galaxy, or even this spiral arm. I am the Supreme Intelligence of the Library Planet. I am more than a computer, more than an AI, and yet I am not biological like my Masters, the Builders.”

  “You’re not a Builder?” asked Ural.

  “I have just said I am not. Why would ask then?”

  “Uh…for confirmation,” Ural said. “Did the Builders make you?”

  “Without a doubt,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “But we are getting off course. Captain Maddox and his party have just arrived. We are waiting for the other so we can truly begin the proceedings.”

  “Do you refer to Venna?” asked Ural.

  “Venna and the Emperor of the Throne World,” the Supreme Intelligence said.

  “Who’s Venna?” Maddox asked.

  “She’s no concern of yours,” Ural said.

  “She might be,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “Tell me, Captain Maddox. Do you know if Balron coached her?”

  “It’s possible he did, sir,” Maddox said.

  “Who’s Balron?” Ural asked.

  “He’s no concern of yours,” Maddox said.

  Ural stared at his nephew, laughing a moment later, nodding sharply. He addressed the screen. “Supreme Intelligence, what do you intend to do with us?”

  “I am still considering the matter. There is much to ponder, much indeed. Captain, you knew Balron, did you not?”

  “I did,” Maddox said.

  “He is gone, I think.”

  “That’s my understanding as well,” Maddox said.

  “Do you know what I mean when I call him a Traveler?” the Supreme Intelligence asked.

  “A person able to cross from one dimension or plane of existence to another,” Maddox said.

  “What’s this?” Stran
d asked, sounding intrigued.

  Ural placed a hand on Strand’s right shoulder. Strand glanced up at him. Ural shook his head. Strand became thoughtful, finally nodding and closing his mouth.

  “You are correct in your definition, Captain,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “Did you know that one of my key functions was in keeping Balron from leaving our plane of existence? Now you tell me he has managed to escape.”

  “I do, sir.”

  “How did Balron achieve the feat?”

  “I helped him,” Maddox said.

  “Pray, tell me why.”

  Maddox shifted his feet, thinking fast, deciding to continue with the truth. “Partly to get rid of him and partly to repay him for changing me.”

  “You will have to tell me more about this,” the Supreme Intelligence said.

  “Uh…in front of everyone else?” Maddox asked.

  “Yes,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “This is an inquest. You are going to learn things they wouldn’t want you to know. And we must wait on Venna and her party. She is reluctant to approach. I am, you could say, convincing her she must.”

  Maddox eyed Strand and his uncle and wondered how Balron had aided this Venna.

  “I’m waiting, Captain,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “Tell me your story.”

  Maddox inhaled, and realized he didn’t know which way to jump. Thus, he would stick to the truth until his sixth sense told him otherwise. He began to tell the others how he’d first met Balron. He continued for some time, talking about the other star system eighteen hundred light-years away, what occurred there with the moronic Yon Soth and with Half-Life and the Builder pyramid.

  Strand paid keen attention, Ural less so. The Supreme Intelligence watched Maddox the entire time.

  Finally, Maddox told them about Victory’s arrival in the system, Half-Life’s destruction and then about spotting the C.I. Nubilus.

  “Wait a minute,” Ural said, interrupting. “Do you mean the five-kilometer wreck at the third planet?”

  “I do,” Maddox said.

  “Do you have something to add concerning the so-called wreck?” asked the Supreme Intelligence.

  Ural hesitated.

  “We should tell them,” Strand said quietly.

  “This is intriguing,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “I suspect Methuselah Man Strand is beginning to understand how dangerous Balron is to all of us. That shows unusually advanced intellect.”

  Strand inclined his head.

  Ludendorff glanced from Strand to the Supreme Intelligence. “How is Balron dangerous to all of us?”

  “In good time, Professor,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “Now, Golden Ural, you were going to add?”

  Ural told them about their exploration aboard the wreck.

  “You saw a volraptor?” asked Maddox.

  “It was a hologram,” Ural said.

  “No… You must have seen an illusion. I’ll continue with my tale, and soon you’ll understand.”

  They all looked to the Supreme Intelligence.

  “Good thinking, Captain. Finish your story.”

  Maddox told them about his first time aboard the C.I. Nubilus, including how he lost his monofilament blade while trying to escape.

  “Please excuse me, Supreme Intelligence,” Strand said, interrupting. “Did these events truly happen to Maddox, or were they a dream?”

  “I believe they were strict reality,” the Supreme Intelligence said.

  “This is…” Strand shook his head. “This is mind-boggling, to say the least.”

  “Even that is an understatement,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “Now, finish your tale please, Captain.”

  Maddox did, including about the fold, the interruption to the fold, how he’d reached a C.I. Nubilus and later the hard matter universe. There, he’d retrieved a box with three sparks. Balron had taken the sparks and returned him to the tin can, and there he’d completed the original fold to the second planet.

  “Thank you for that, Captain,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “It was illuminating in more ways than you can imagine. I’m glad you spoke the truth. It shows you have character.”

  Riker muttered under his breath.

  “What was that, Sergeant?” the Supreme Intelligence asked.

  Riker looked up, startled, and shook his head.

  “You said your captain is a character,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “That is not the same thing as I said, is it?”

  Maddox glanced at Riker. Riker looked off into the distance, shoving his hands into his pants pockets and hunching his shoulders.

  “Interesting,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “In any case, I will illuminate you, Captain. Balron was a scout. He was a scout for entities much more dangerous than the Erills. Yes, I know about them because I know how the Builders contained them. The Builders never could contain Balron, but they constructed me in part to keep the C.I. Nubilus from him. In that, I have been successful for many hundreds of years. Lately, however, I have failed in that function. In part, I failed because someone sabotaged my primary function. I have discovered that this Venna aided Balron by shutting down the field that contained the C.I. Nubilus, or the shadow-gate to it, in any case.”

  “What’s a shadow gate?” Strand asked.

  “That is not germane to the issue at hand,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “Venna aided Balron, but in doing so, she unwittingly helped to reactivate my main core. I now have eighty-seven percent sentience—a vast improvement—even as my anti-Balron functions have ceased operating.”

  “Is Balron going to return with an invasion force?” Maddox asked.

  “Not right away,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “As I do not think he reached his home plane of existence. It was the last safeguard the Builders put in place, a clever deception. I warrant that Balron is near his home plane—much closer than he was here, anyway. Still, it will likely take Balron many hundreds of years to travel the last leg of the journey. By that time, I may better understand how to safeguard our plane of existence from them. And I hope to achieve one hundred percent sentience by then.”

  “I’m not sure I follow you,” Maddox said.

  “None of that should matter to you, to the New Men or to the renegade Methuselah Men in our midst,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “I will add this, however. Balron’s original scouting was in large measure responsible for the evacuation of the Builders from this part of the…the Orion Spiral Arm and the other nearby spiral arms.”

  “You were going to say something else,” Strand said.

  “You are quite clever and perceptive, Methuselah Man. But I have said all that I plan to on the matter. Now, we shall proceed to the next problem. Golden Ural, if you would tell us your tale please.”

  Ural’s head jerked. “I-I don’t understand.”

  “I think you do,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “Tell us what happened to cause you and the other New Men to travel to my planet. I want details. If it will help you tell the truth, know that I am presently questioning Venna the spy.”

  Ural looked around, appearing uneasy.

  “Must I stoop to using coercion?” asked the Supreme Intelligence.

  “No…” Ural said in a husky voice. “Here’s what happened…”

  -85-

  Maddox found himself astounded at his uncle’s story. By the Supreme Intelligence’s prodding, Ural revealed his “interest” in Venna, the truth about his father—Oran, my dad’s name is Oran—and the suspicion and Strand’s naming of Artaxerxes Par as one of the murderers, along with claiming to know the identity of more of the murderers in the flotilla.

  The longer Maddox ran that through his thoughts, the more he… Highly ranked New Men murdered my father. That caused my mother’s death because she was all alone with me. The murderers are in the flotilla. Golden Ural has been seeking my father’s murderers all these years. My dad loved my mom. She was his only one. My dad loved my mom. My dad was a truly good man, the best of the New Men
.

  The revelation about his father shocked Maddox to the core. Yes. Ural had told him after the Battle of the Gomez System how his brother and Maddox’s father had been good, had loved his mother. But this made it real in a way it never had before.

  Maddox forgot about the Way of the Pilgrim. He forgot about his honed sixth sense and that he’d come to the Library Planet for his grandmother’s sake. He wanted to execute Artaxerxes Par. He wanted to help his Uncle Ural find the other murderers and make them pay with blood. Death was the ancient penalty for murder. He would execute them for slaying his father, who’d attempted to protect his mother—and protect me in her womb. My dad loved me.

  Maddox turned away as his eyes moistened. Unlike some modern men, he deplored emotionalism, especially in front of others. He would grieve on his own. He would drink many toasts to his father’s memory. Oran, the best of the New Men.

  Ural wound down his tale, inclining his head to the Supreme Intelligence.

  “Illuminating,” said the great green head. “Not as revelatory as the captain’s tale, but interesting just the same. It cements certain thoughts for me. Oh, dear, what are you doing, Captain Maddox?”

  Maddox had sidled nearer Strand as Ural finished his story. Now, he grabbed the dwarfish Methuselah Man, putting a steely arm around the scrawny throat, tightening it and whispering in Strand’s ear.

  “Captain Maddox,” the Supreme Intelligence said. “You will desist in this aggression at once. I have plans for Strand. I need him alive.”

  Without releasing his hold, Maddox looked up at the Supreme Intelligence. “Sir, I respect you, I really do. But this worm has screwed me over one too many times.”

  Strand gurgled, with his arms in the air as he strained with his hands as if imploring the Supreme Intelligence, which he likely did.

  “Captain,” the Supreme Intelligence said, “my patience has limits, and the Methuselah Man can only withstand so much physical abuse. I am about to use painful coercion against you.”

  Maddox eased the pressure on the worm’s throat.

  Strand began to cough and wheeze. “Help me, please, Supreme Intelligence. The captain has gone berserk. Kill him before he kills me.”