“It would seem so.”
As the professor and the Raja spoke, Maddox had been thinking. The fight into the city had shown him that the Vendels had heavy weapons. What if the priests ringed the palace with power-wagons?
Maddox noticed motion on his sensors. Armed Vendels were circling their position.
Maddox didn’t like feeling this exposed. This might be an indefensible position. If speed was their armor, motionlessness meant vulnerability. What did that mean over the long haul? If they stayed in the palace, they were all going to die. Maybe it was time to go. They could grab Meta and Keith, and grab the Raja, using him as a bargaining chip.
“Lieutenant,” Maddox said over his helmet comm. “I hope you’ve kept your sensors on.”
“Are you talking about the Vendel teams secretly maneuvering around us?” Sims asked.
“Good man, Lieutenant. When I give the word, you must act at once and do exactly as I say.”
“May I ask you what you’re planning, sir?”
“To get out of here,” the captain said.
“I was hoping you’d say that. Our long-term survivability against massed Vendels is highly questionable.”
“Before we do anything, I want to know if Ludendorff is playing the Raja, or if the Raja is playing Ludendorff. I have to keep listening to them.”
“I understand,” Sims said.
“I applaud your high science,” the Raja was saying. “These robots are murderous machines, having slain elite priest-soldiers and their attack savages. Because I have given you my word, I will deal fairly with you, as you have dealt fairly with me.”
“You honor me, Raja,” Ludendorff said.
“I have been a figurehead for years,” the Raja said. “The priests bicker with each other. One faction pushes me this way and another demands I do it that way. I have grown weary of it. Now, you have produced marvels and weakened their power and prestige. Yet, your glib promises trouble me. They seem too good to be true. If you have the power you declare, you would not need my code words for the deep shrines. You would have gone directly there. It is possible you do not even know their location.”
The Raja was building himself up to ambush them, Maddox realized. The Vendel was as much as accusing Ludendorff of double-dealing. It reminded Maddox of a dog growling and its nape hairs rising as it readied to attack. Maddox knew then without a doubt that they had to get out of the alien city.
“What is this you are saying, Raja?” Ludendorff asked.
“I am reluctant to inform you—”
Maddox stepped forward and put an armored glove on Ludendorff’s shoulder. That caused the professor to whirl around in shock.
“What is this about code words?” Maddox asked over the helmet speaker.
Ludendorff failed to hide his surprise. “You understand our words?”
“No more delay,” Maddox said, giving the professor a shake. “Answer me.”
“Oh, very well,” Ludendorff said. “The Raja has the ancient secrets. It’s handed down from Raja to Raja. He knows the location of the old shrines in the deepest part of the subterranean realm. I’m bargaining for the location and our easy admittance into the needed vault. Now, unhand me, lest the Raja becomes suspicious of us.”
Maddox clicked off his helmet speaker. It sounded as if all they needed was the Raja. This was a piece of luck for once. It was time to leave this place. He clicked on the comm. “Lieutenant.”
“Sir,” Sims said.
“Grab the Raja. Use your three best marines to scoop up Meta, Keith and Ludendorff. We’re getting out of here this instant.”
Maddox grabbed Ludendorff and pitched him to an approaching marine. The professor shouted in outrage, but he couldn’t do anything against exoskeleton strength.
The lifeguards opened fire to no effect against the armor-suits. One of the guards aimed at Meta.
Maddox shot the guard, and then a second guard who looked as if he had the same idea.
“Let’s go,” Maddox said over the comm. “We’re heading back for the jumpfighters.”
***
The battle team ran back the way it had come with the marines still carrying the Raja along with Meta, Keith and the professor. Sims instructed each marine to keep their charge alive and stay with the group.
This maneuver seemed to have caught everyone by surprise. The priestly soldiers had departed. The Raja’s people dared not fire upon the battle group lest they incur the demons’ wrath. The obvious threat was retaliation against the Raja.
Maddox’s heart pounded. He hated risking Meta like this. A sense of claustrophobia struck him suddenly. He worked to suppress the feeling.
The team bounded, taking full advantage of the exoskeleton armor. The captain knew the four would take damage from the hard landings. Meta was strong and Keith was young. They should survive this easily enough. Maddox couldn’t say the same for the Raja and Ludendorff. But the professor had brought this on himself. If the Methuselah Man would have let them in on his plans for once…
Maddox thrust the problem aside. He had Meta. That was the important point. Because of the Raja, he had a way to find and enter the deep vaults. That was the point of the entire mission. Maybe Ludendorff had his own point, but first things first.
“Company up ahead, Lieutenant,” a squad leader reported.
The battle group deployed, the four carriers hanging back. Maddox stayed with them, compelled by a gut instinct.
“Behind us, sir,” a scout said, “on the left building.”
Maddox slid to a halt, looking back. “I see it,” he said.
“Cannibals are charging from the front,” a marine said.
The battle team formed a quick hedgehog defense. The four carriers stood in the center.
Maddox aimed his shredder. He was a trained sniper, and this was a long-distance shot. Up on a box building were several of the power-wagons. He had no idea how they had gotten up there.
Holding his breath and studying his range-finger, Maddox squeezed the trigger.
The squat shredder kicked, but the massive armor-suit was too big for it to matter much.
“One, two…” Maddox whispered.
A power-wagon up there quivered. The other beside it fired. The high-velocity round sped toward the battle group. The shell smashed debris a meter to the left of a marine.
Maddox gritted his teeth. He sighted the machine and fired round after round.
One power-wagon trundled forward, falling off the five-story building. Another shot…a marine exploded backward, skidding to the foot of the armor-suit holding the Raja.
Maddox sighted once more.
“Go,” Sims said. “Keep moving. We’ve dealt with those pinning us down ahead.”
Maddox fired one more shot before turning away. The battle group surged past littered, gory corpses as power-wagon shells blew away chunks of dead flesh. The marines leaped and ran for the corridors.
“They’ll have mined those by now,” Sims said.
“Maybe,” Maddox said. “Do you know of another way to get out of this place?”
“No.”
“Then let’s run, Lieutenant. Let’s see if we’ve surprised them enough to beat them out of here before they set up any IEDs.”
-48-
The battle group retraced their old route. Maddox couldn’t believe this was his third time today along the lonely corridor. They didn’t transverse it as quickly as the second time, but they moved faster than Maddox had the first time.
Soon, they passed the New Man’s burnt corpse and entered the narrower tunnels.
The Raja had grown morose as a one-ton suited marine cradled him like an overgrown baby. Ludendorff seemed dejected but resigned to the situation. Keith indicated he wanted to walk, but limped too much when the marine let him down. Only Meta proved fit enough to keep up with the battle group’s clanking strides.
She jogged beside Maddox. He’d lowered his faceplate so they could talk. She couldn’t enlighten him much
about the professor’s plans. Ludendorff had kept to himself, conferring with the Raja in the Vendel tongue.
Sometime later, Sims radioed the captain. “This seems too easy.”
“Excuse me,” Maddox told Meta. He used his chin, causing the faceplate to whirr shut. “What’s wrong?” he asked the lieutenant.
“I don’t like this,” Sims said. “The Vendels should have hit us harder when we made our break. Are they holding back? If so, what’s their plan?”
“You have a point,” Maddox said, shortly. “I do not like the feeling that we’re making moves someone else has dictated.”
“That makes two of us.”
Maddox made some calculations before asking, “How long until we reach the landing zone?”
“Ten minutes, at most.”
The underworld hid its secrets well. As Maddox peered around in the gloom, he felt as if they were wading upon some stygian ocean floor. The fungus ferns loomed all around them. Strange and ominous noises reverberated here and there. The funguses stirred as if a strong wind blew them. When Maddox checked his sensors, he couldn’t find any trace of wind.
“Deep tectonic activity,” Maddox said suddenly. That might account for the funguses swaying. He conferred with Sims.
Soon, the battle group moved faster. The quicker they left the subterranean realm, the better.
“Keep the scouts close,” Maddox said. “This feels wrong, completely wrong.”
It was dark in the vast subterranean world. A few of the marines used helmet lamps for the others. But the bleak nature of the realm seemed to press in upon the humans and their Raja captive.
“Have you contacted the jumpfighters yet?” Maddox asked Sims.
“I thought you wanted radio silence,” Sims said. “I’ve stuck to the short-range throughout.”
Maddox agreed they should keep it that way. The premonition of wrongness grew until it beat against his chest. He was missing something. He wondered if he should ask Ludendorff.
No. He didn’t trust the Methuselah Man. Something was off with the professor. Maddox couldn’t place that either, but he trusted his gut.
Finally, the lead marines reached the landing zone. Maddox clanked up, using his helmet lamp to sweep the area. There were masses of crushed fungus ferns like crop circles. He swept the light to the right and to the left.
“Where are the jumpfighters?” Sims radioed.
The three jumpfighters were gone. “I’m going to radio the ship,” Maddox told Sims.
“Yeah,” the lieutenant said. “That’s a good idea.”
Maddox switched frequencies. He heard growling in his headphones. He switched to another channel and heard the same low growl.
“Someone is jamming us,” he told Sims.
“Our batteries are weakening,” the lieutenant said. “My indicator says I have half a charge left. Some of the scouts are down to a third of their power. What do you suggest, sir?”
“We need more energy.”
“If we’re going to say down here for any length of time, yes,” Sims agreed.
“Form a circle. I’m going to talk to the professor.”
The marines formed a circle as they turned off their visible lamps. They swept the area with suit sensors, but found nothing out of the ordinary and no one to be jamming long-range communications.
Maddox loomed over the professor in his suit. The faceplate went down, and the fungus stench hit him anew. It was dank and damp, and it took his breath away for a moment.
Ludendorff had a small glow-ball in his hands. He stood, with his guardian marine watching him.
“The jumpfighters are gone,” Maddox said.
“I had surmised as much but hoped it wasn’t true,” Ludendorff said. “What are we going to do now?”
“We can’t go back to the city.”
“Technically, we can.” Ludendorff said. “But we would either face incarceration or death. I desire neither. That means we must contact the ship or find a means of leaving the underworld on our own.”
“Why are the jumpfighters missing?” Maddox asked.
“My boy, I’m not a seer. I have no idea.”
“I doubt that’s true—that you have no idea.”
“Logically, Strand or the androids drove the jumpfighters away, or Lieutenant Noonan summoned them upstairs.”
Maddox had come to the same conclusions, with several extra possibilities. “I’m going to add the Rull and possibly a rogue Builder.”
“Your imagination is running away with you,” the professor said. “The Rull are extinct, and the Builders have long fled to who knows where.”
“That’s the consensus. That doesn’t make it true.”
“Rest assured, it is true,” Ludendorff said. “In one way or another, Strand or the androids caused the jumpfighters to leave.”
“Are you saying there are no dangers down here?”
“You have a point. According to the Raja, the guardians of the vaults have begun to transverse the upper subterranean realm. Maybe they caused the jumpfighter disappearance.”
“What are our immediate options?” Maddox asked.
Ludendorff shook his head. “I am appalled. I have finally seen you come begging to me for answers, and I am in the same boat as you, befuddled by events. It is disquieting and close to ironic.”
Maddox waited.
“I suppose we could ask the Raja for advice,” Ludendorff said.
Maddox shrugged, instructing the marine to bring his prisoner. The Kelchworth 350s purred as the marine deposited the disheveled Raja beside the professor.
Ludendorff began jabbering in Vendel, and Maddox quickly brought up the translator.
“I hope you’ll excuse me, Raja,” the professor said. “I told you one mistruth earlier. These are not robots, but humans wearing power armor.”
“Demons,” the Raja said in a husky voice. “They have brought us closer to the eternal underworld. You are an imp, beguiling me with promises. I should have understood when you began to speak to the inner desires of my heart. I became greedy. Haven’t the Builders allowed me high rank? Did I not enjoy the fruits of my passions, having the most beautiful Vendels at my beck and call?”
“Raja, you are grossly mistaken,” Ludendorff said. “These are frail creatures just like you and I. They wear star armor, giving them the strength of one hundred.”
“They are pure of heart?”
“No. They are deceitful. They promised me as I promised you. Now, their enemies have played a trick on them.”
The Raja stared fixedly at Ludendorff.
“Others are jamming our communication equipment,” the professor said.
“Demons,” the Raja said in a low voice.
“Perhaps the guardians of the vaults are responsible,” Ludendorff suggested.
“What?” the Raja said. “That is nonsense. The guardians cannot leave their perimeters. Have I not seen the deep vaults? Have I not gone where others fear to tread? You know this. It is how you began your temptations.”
Ludendorff coughed discretely, meeting Maddox’s gaze for only a moment.
“Can you find the entrance to the deep vaults from here?” the professor asked the Raja.
The Raja shrugged as if indifferent to the idea.
Ludendorff turned to Maddox. “Long ago, in his youth, the Raja led a safari to the elevators. He went down to the vaults. The exploit led him on the path to becoming the Raja. He has searched for a magic path ever since, daring to act against Vendel tradition.”
“Magic?” Maddox asked.
“Not so loud,’ the professor whispered. “The Raja is a highly superstitious individual. Tech items appear magical to him and the other Vendels. His people consider him a powerful magician. It is one of his keys that helped him keep his position against priestly opposition.”
Maddox must have seemed perplexed, as the professor pressed on.
“The Vendels have fallen a long way,” Ludendorff explained. “The toxic rain did them i
n. It poisoned their minds. I don’t mean directly. The vast numbers of mutated Vendels shattered their faith in science. Long-term disasters have that effect. Disease multiplied the mental shocks, weakening their intellects even more.”
“That doesn’t hold,” Maddox said. “I mean the overall picture. You’ve claimed the androids lured us here.”
“Lured Strand,” the professor said. “I came on my own accord.”
“Why would the androids lure anyone here? Why go to these extreme lengths to capture Victory and the Argo?”
“That’s only half of it. I believe the androids desire our help in breaching the deep vaults.”
“There,” Maddox said. “That’s the part that rings false. Do the Vendels hold the androids at bay?”
“I believe so.”
“How can they do this if they lack the tech to do so?”
“Despite their superstitious beliefs, the subterranean Vendels are custodians to several powerful weapons. Those weapons have kept the Juggernauts from finishing their task. The Vendels view these weapons as magical tools. That does not lessen the weapons’ deadliness.”
“Why don’t the androids send down androids disguised as Vendels to destroy them from within?” Maddox said.
“For a very good reason,” Ludendorff said as he tapped his nose. “The Vendels can sniff out androids. They were just as good at sniffing out Rull imposters in former times. I believe it was one of the reasons the Builders fashioned their vaults here in the first place.”
“All that is well and good,” Maddox said. “It still leaves us in a quandary concerning the jumpfighters.”
Ludendorff inhaled. “Leave it to me, my boy.” The professor turned back to the Raja. He switched from English to Vendel.
“I have begged the soldiers,” Ludendorff said. “They are grim men, merciless and determined. They demand I take them to the deep vaults. They wish to behold the guardians and worship.”
“This is true?” the Raja asked.
“I believe I already told you this.”
“No. You did not.” The Raja glanced at Maddox.
The captain did his best to appear grim-faced.
The Raja shuddered, regarding Ludendorff and his glow-ball. “This is the nether realm. It is a dangerous place, full of under-dwellers. But…” He looked around. “I detect a whiff of Builder mist. I could possibly follow it and there reach an out-station. From there, I could possibly detect the location of the nearest elevator. Yet, I am loath to do this. Why should I help my killers?”
The Lost Planet (Lost Starship Series Book 6) Page 26
