“Heavens, no,” Ludendorff said. “The androids hate the Methuselah Men. We’ve helped to keep their interference at bay—at least some of the time we have. No. My point is otherwise. I believe there are other androids in this particular star system at this time. I do not believe there are androids yet on Sind II. The Vendels loathe androids and have a great capacity to sniff them out. Plus, there is something at work against androids on Sind. Perhaps that is what makes the androids so cautious, so willing to let us pass to see if we can turn off the something so they can come down and collect the Builder treasures.”
“I imagine you’re building up to a point,” Maddox said.
“Yes. Where are the other androids?”
“What other androids?” Meta said. “You said they’re with Strand.”
“One of them is to my knowledge,” Ludendorff said. “There must be more, given the nature and the size of this endeavor. However, I believe the androids have taken a heavy beating the last few years. We have killed a large concentration of them.”
“That doesn’t seem right,” Meta said. “The androids that took a beating came from the Builder base in the bottom of the Mid-Atlantic Ocean on Earth.”
“There were many more androids loose on the Earth during that time,” Ludendorff said. “The Builder base could not account for all of them. No. Other androids joined them. That is the reason they need to replenish their numbers. They burned too many in their failed attempt. I believe this replenishing is one of their goals, just as much as breaking into the other Builder vaults.”
“Do you think the long-range scanner still exists in the vaults?” Maddox asked.
“I do.”
Maddox rubbed his chin. “What do you propose to do about the Juggernauts?”
“Yes,” Ludendorff said. “That is the first problem. I’m going to need your help, my boy. We have to find the core computer, and I’m not sure where to look down here. Do you have any ideas?”
Ludendorff and Meta stared at Maddox.
Maddox thought about it and finally smiled.
-68-
Strand’s feeling of unease grew as Star Cruiser Argo and the two Juggernauts neared Sind II.
His crew had failed to spot any planetary guns, missile pits or space-fighter launch pads. That seemed logical given the state of the planetary civilization. The feeling that others were in the star system and played a deeply nefarious game with him refused to go away.
Strand concluded that his subconscious was trying to tell him something.
He ordered the sensors officer to stand aside. The tall New Man obeyed.
Strand hunched over the board in the officer’s place. The Methuselah Man’s fingers roved over the panel. He used the ship’s sensors like a master pianist. He correlated every piece of data against the norms for this system. He cross-referenced radiation signatures with heat levels and ambient shadows and—
There was a strange reading coming from the most distant planetoid in the system.
Strand sat back, puzzled by this. He did not aim active sensors at the anomaly. That would take hours for the data to bounce there and return. More importantly, if someone was secretly watching him, he did not want them knowing that he knew.
For the next twenty minutes, Strand went over in exacting detail the results of the passive sensors. A last check on the teleoptic showed him a wavering shadow. The strange shadow lasted three point seven seconds. Then, the shadow merged into the starry background.
The bad feeling in Strand’s chest blossomed. There was a vessel out there, a stealth vessel trying very hard to remain hidden from everyone. Logically, the vessel—the crew aboard the ship—watched and recorded what happened in the star system and at Sind II.
Strand rose slowly from the sensors board. He instructed the New Man to return to his station.
As the Methuselah Man sat in his command chair, he realized it was time for a reassessment. Should he continue heading to Sind II in the company of the Juggernauts? Or should he do something else?
Strand leaned back, crossed his ankles and began to ponder this.
-69-
“What has you smirking like the fabled fading cat?” the professor asked.
“I’m recalling the missing jumpfighters and the endless jamming,” Maddox said.
“You’d better explain that.”
“Both instances indicate an active intelligence working against us,” the captain said. “Cause and effect tells me the intelligence has a source.”
“An elementary deduction if there ever was one.”
“The process of elimination shows me the Vendels cannot be the source of this intelligence,” the captain said. “Strand cannot be it down here in the underworld. Now, I doubt the androids sustain the thinking enmity we’ve been facing. Androids would have already cleaned out these ancient Builder treasures. We can also discount the Rull as the source, because you’ve informed us the Rull are actually androids.”
“So far so good,” the professor said as he blotted his sweaty forehead.
“I doubt the source is a Builder,” Maddox said, “because a Builder would have already taken charge of the situation.”
Ludendorff nodded.
“It cannot be the coordinator unit either,” Maddox said, “because your Swarm machine disabled it.”
“Enough already,” Ludendorff said. “If my mind didn’t feel so fuzzy, I’d have figured out what you’re hinting at. I feel as if my latest discoveries have squeezed me mind like a hand squeezing a sponge of water. I have little juice left to figure out your mysterious theory.”
“Having eliminated these various sources,” Maddox said. “I have to conclude there is another entity at work. This entity strikes me as a protective device of some kind. What is it protecting? It would seem the vaults particularly. I also suspect that our elevators do not connect to the deep core mine, because the Raja had already been there and back. That would indicate the protective device is guarding the vaults alone, as I’ve said.
“We’ve broken into an android warehouse,” the captain continued, “but we haven’t found the jumpfighters or the jamming source. If we find them, I suggest we will find the protective device or entity, or your computer, as you called it. There is one other imponderable at play that I do not understand. How have the degraded Vendels kept the androids at bay all this time?”
“I already explained that,” Ludendorff said.
“You gave me the Vendel explanation, what the Raja no doubt told you.”
Ludendorff idly scratched a cheek.
“I believe the Vendels believe what they told you,” Maddox said. “But I don’t believe the badly degraded Vendels could keep sophisticated androids at bay by themselves. I believe they have had help. You’ve spoken about Builder factions. I suspect there is a Builder device—an intelligent one—working behind the scenes. I also suspect it is not fully functioning.”
“What drives you to these conclusions?”
“The degraded state of the Vendels, the toxins in the air and the massed rust all over the planet,” Maddox answered. “A fully functioning entity or device should have already repaired those things.”
Ludendorff considered the captain’s idea, scratching his cheek harder as he did. “Very well,” the professor said. “Suppose you’ve hit the mark. What do you suggest we do?”
“Return to the bank of elevators,” Maddox said. “Choose another route down. Eventually, we’ll reach the correct vault. Once we do, we bargain with the device.”
“What an active imagination you have, Captain. Yet some of your supposititious have an interesting ring of plausibility. The protective entity could be a remote device—”
“I highly doubt that,” the captain said. “I recognize an active foe playing against me in the shadows. As you suggested earlier, Intelligence work is my specialty. There is another mind at play on Sind II. Most likely, it is weak. Nevertheless, finding it is our goal.”
“You’re hiding something from
us, Captain. What is it?”
Maddox shrugged.
“Do you think I’m compromised in some fashion?” Ludendorff asked.
“I believe that is a distinct possibility.”
“Even after all I’ve done for everyone?” asked Ludendorff.
“I’m afraid so.”
The professor bent his head in thought. Finally, he nodded. “You have a right to your view. First, let me reassure you that no one has compromised me. Second, I think the only way to set your mind at ease is to show you. Thus, let us get to work.”
“That is an excellent suggestion,” Maddox said.
They headed back to the others, hurrying past empty cylinders and soon passing the android-packed ones. As they came into the antechamber, the wall that had risen earlier abruptly came down, sealing the three of them inside.
Maddox and Meta drew their guns.
“Look,” the professor whispered, as he tugged at Maddox’s sleeve.
A shimmering, ghostly humanoid appeared before them. The entire creature flickered out and then reappeared as if it had a bad holo-vid connection.
“Galyan,” Meta whispered. “The thing reminds me of Galyan.”
“Yes,” Ludendorff said. “I believe you are correct. That is indeed a holoimage.” The professor peered at it more closely. “To be more precise, it is the holoimage of a Vendel.”
The flickering holoimage finally solidified. The alien looked remarkably similar to the Raja, except it was female. She also had a darker skin tone than the former Raja, a sharper nose and wore an elaborate suit with many decorations pinned to the front. The facial resemblance was there nonetheless.
“Do you understand me?” Maddox asked.
The holoimage cocked its head, finally nodding. “I have been running an analysis of you for some time,” it said in a Vendel manner, as opposed to a robotic pattern of speech. “Your language is a derivative of an ancient Builder slave-tongue, but I do understand you after a fashion. That presupposes you understand me.”
“Yes,” Maddox said.
“Good, good, very good,” the holoimage said. “Perhaps we can move to the next phase of possibilities then. I have listened to your reasoning—” The holoimage paused. “Do you have a particular designation, perhaps, by which I can address you?”
“I am Captain Maddox.”
“Good, good, very good,” the holoimage said. “I am Sistine la Mort. I am a projection of the late and last Raja of the advanced Vendel society. The process of my…change began during the initial Rull attack. A series of enemy coded sequences interrupted our Planetary Defense Net. I fled with my entourage, entering the elevators. Using an ancient script, I made it to the Great Machine. I entered it, and it is my last living memory.”
“Why are you telling us this?” Maddox asked.
The holoimage cocked her head. “I propose an alliance. I believed you would want to know my position before entering into an alliance with me. I have overheard some of your conversations, as I said. The key to this is that I have learned that the Rull are really androids. That is an astonishing discovery, but it confirms many of my suppositions.”
Ludendorff snapped his fingers. “You have been deified, as the Adoks would say.”
Maddox and Meta stared at the professor in shock.
“The Great Machine read her engrams and added that to an AI program?” Maddox asked.
“It seems the likeliest answer,” the professor said. “The deification process must be direct Builder tech. This is fascinating. I wonder how many other societies received deification technology.”
“Do you have our jumpfighters?” Maddox asked the holoimage.
“I do, along with the crews. I have also been jamming your communications even as I’ve been eavesdropping on you. I have been studying you, Captain. One part of me wishes your destruction, and that is what I have planned since you escaped the city. Your murderous rampage against the Vendels has curdled my blood. That is an expression only, of course, as I no longer possess blood.”
“What changed your mind about us?” Maddox asked.
The holoimage raised her hand like a magician. Before them appeared the holoimage of two Juggernauts and the Star Cruiser Argo as the spaceships maneuvered for a South Pole orbit.
“I watched your starship, Captain,” the holoimage said. “Your vessel destroyed the two besieging Juggernauts. I highly approved of the act and considered it smartly done. I have come to believe that you do not personally have a murderous intent against the Vendels. I believe you might agree to my treaty proposal, which includes an end to your attacks against the surviving Vendels.”
“I have no hatred or ill will toward the Vendels as a species,” Maddox said. “I have merely defended myself or attacked them in order to retrieve my people.”
“You are a savage murderer,” Sistine la Mort declared. “You and your kind clearly relish killing. I have watched you for some time. Your ways are most distasteful, and under other conditions, I would gladly help the city war party eliminate you. However, I have also come to believe you will help me restore the Vendels to their former glory.”
Maddox waited.
“Your armored marines will have to go into combat one more time,” the holoimage said. “You must capture the chief priest and bring him to a place of my choosing.”
“You’re going to slay the priest for his sacrilegious ways?” Ludendorff asked.
The holoimage floated back in shock. “You see. I am correct about you. That murderous thought proves you are a bloodthirsty species. You are all kill-crazy, with a lust for battle.”
“What about the mutated cannibals?” Ludendorff countered. “They attack everything with obvious relish.”
The holoimage frowned and her eyes glowed with anger. “The mutation is a great sin against my people. The Rull/androids are responsible for that. I have determined to hunt them down and exterminate the Rull/androids from the galaxy.”
“And you call us bloodthirsty?” Ludendorff asked.
“Are you attempting to equate me with you?” she asked as her hair began to stand on end.
“No… I suppose not.”
It took several seconds before the holoimage’s hair settled back into place and the shine to her eyes subsided. “I am speaking about eliminating murderous machines,” she said. “You indulge in slaying flesh, blood and spirit-housing beings for the simple pleasure of it.”
Ludendorff rolled his eyes. “You’re not going to talk about the Creator, I hope.”
“This confirms my worst suspicions about you,” the holoimage said. “You are profane and utterly secular in thought.”
“He may be,” Maddox said. “We’re not. We believe in the Creator.”
“How interesting,” the holoimage said. “Yes. We may proceed then with the alliance.”
“First,” Maddox said, “I’d like to know your plan for the chief priest.”
“It is quite simply, really. I am going to reeducate him, so he can go back to the city and begin to reeducate the remaining Vendels. I plan to reclaim our place in stellar society. It may take a hundred years or more, but that is fine. I have time. It will also be a thousand times more interesting than what I am doing now.”
“What do you do to pass the time?” the professor asked.
“Never you mind,” she said. “Do we have a deal?” she asked the captain.
“I need to know more,” Maddox said. “For instance, what are the terms of this deal?”
“You aide me, and I will let you live.”
Maddox smiled wryly, shaking his head. “You have to do better than that.”
“You value your lives, do you not?”
“Of course,” Maddox said. “But we’re bargaining for our ship and people as well. We have a responsibility to the others, just as you have a responsibility to the Vendels.”
“The Vendels are the one race. You are just murderous killers, as I have taken pains to explain to you.”
“Neverthel
ess,” Maddox said, “we murderous killers look out for others of our kind.”
“You did not look out for the golden-skinned ones,” the holoimage said. “Quite the opposite, in fact.”
“True,” Maddox said. “But you want our help, correct?”
The holoimage stared at Maddox. Once more, her eyes glowed with anger. “If you are attempting to thwart my great propose—”
“Not in the slightest,” Maddox said. “But we Earthlings have a saying. ‘You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.’”
“Oh,” the holoimage said. “Yes. I comprehend the idea. Very well, I will also save your starship.”
“How would you do this?” Maddox asked.
“You will have to repair one of my functions. It will allow me to communicate with the Rull vessels chasing your ship. I shall override their AI cores and redirect them.”
Ludendorff tugged at one of Maddox’s sleeves. The captain shrugged him off.
“That’s a good start. For repairing that critical function—” Maddox turned to Ludendorff because the Methuselah Man continued to tug on his sleeve. “What is it?”
Ludendorff whispered into the captain’s ear.
Soon, Maddox gave the professor an approving glance. The sly Methuselah Man had an interesting idea.
“Do we have an alliance?” Sistine la Mort asked the captain.
“I have a few more conditions,” Maddox said. “Once you meet those conditions, we can proceed.”
“What conditions?” the holoimage asked.
Maddox told her. The holoimage disagreed vehemently and counter-proposed. That brought about a period of intense bargaining. At last, Maddox and the holoimage came to an agreement.
“Before we initiate the master plan,” Sistine la Mort said. “Your marines must capture the chief priest, and the professor must repair one of my main functions.”
“Understood,” Maddox said. “So let’s get started.”
-70-
Maddox borrowed a marine’s exoskeleton suit. It was rank inside from sweat and fear, and needed a thorough scrubbing. But the captain could not afford fastidiousness at this point.
The Lost Planet (Lost Starship Series Book 6) Page 38
