He led four space marines, with Lieutenant Sims among them. Maddox had told Sims to pick his best fighters. Five space marines to grab one Vendel out of a huge war party. It wouldn’t have had a chance of working except Sistine la Mort gave Maddox a detailed schematic of the tunnels, the location of side entrances and a tablet allowing them to use the tunnel video system. After some intense discussion, Maddox and Sims came up with a snatch plan.
“I have one qualm, sir,” Sims said. “I thought you promised the AI you wouldn’t murder anymore aliens.”
“Murder is a premeditated act,” Maddox said. “What we’re doing—”
“This is war, I agree,” Sims said hastily. “But it doesn’t sound as if this advanced AI looks at it like that.”
“Maybe not,” Maddox admitted.
“My question still stands, sir.”
Maddox took his time answering. The five of them had the rest of the battle group’s ammunition. It meant they had plenty for a serious firefight, if it came to that. The plan called for the least expenditure of munitions possible. That was for two reasons. The less they had to fight, the less chance any of them would be hurt or killed. It also meant less of a chance of a screw up concerning the chief priest and other Vendels.
“Do you have a better idea, Lieutenant?” Maddox finally asked.
“No, sir, I do not. In fact, I like the plan. I’m just not sure the AI will approve of it later.”
“You let me deal with her.”
“Yes, sir,” Sims said.
The five of them in their exoskeleton suits waited in an alcove along a main tunnel route to the elevator banks. From the last check, the Vendel war party had already entered this corridor, just much farther away.
“Do you hear that?” a marine asked. He had his faceplate open.
Maddox checked the tablet. On the tiny screen, he watched regular Vendels holding the leashes to eight-foot savages. They were coming down the corridor and were presently about fifty meters away from their location.
Soon, the rest of the marines heard the growling mutated creatures. On the other side of the wall, the war party’s scout group padded past them.
Soon, the floor trembled as masses of Vendels marched past. Fortunately, the power-wagons waited far back in the tunnel system. It was questionable whether the big, half-alive vehicles could have squeezed through the narrower corridors.
One of the marines now raised his shredder as if he meant to fire through the wall.
Maddox motioned to Sims.
The lieutenant sidled up to the nervous marine, using a gloved hand to push the shredder lower.
The marine stared at Sims. With their faceplates open, the two conferred in whispers. Finally, the marine grunted his acceptance.
Maddox studied the tablet. He understood nerves. A thin sheet of metal stood between the marines and certain death. They could not defeat the Vendel war party if they had to face all of them at once.
Maddox’s grip tightened on the tablet. He had nerves of his own, it would seem. In the finger tightening, he made a mistake. He forgot, in that moment, that he had exoskeleton-powered gloves. He accidently crushed the tablet—their eyes—rendering the device useless.
The others looked at the crushed tablet in silent shock.
Maddox berated himself for carelessness. He’d insisted joining the marines on the mission, knowing it would be tough on Sims’s men. He’d hoped to calm them with his presence. Now, he might have screwed them all.
“Steady as she goes,” Maddox said in a quiet voice.
The particularly nervous marine looked at him. You’re kidding us, right?” the marine said in a rough voice. “Steady as she goes? What in the—”
“Enough, Sergeant,” Sims said.
The marine scowled at the whiplash voice. “Did you see what he did? He crushed it.”
With a gloved hand, Sims banged the sergeant’s shoulder, making more noise than he’d intended.
The marching noises on the other side of the wall lessened.
“They know we’re here,” the nervous sergeant said.
Maddox silently agreed. He did the only thing he could under the circumstances. He pressed the detonation switch.
Two powerful detonations shook the tunnel and shook their hidden alcove. The sounds of falling earth rattled everything even more. Screams of pain from the other side of the wall added to the noise.
Maddox had just blown the pre-mined positions ahead of and behind their hidden position. The captain slapped a switch on the wall. A section slid open into a dark tunnel full of dust and panicked shouting Vendels.
Shredders opened up, creating flashes and peals of agony as Vendels and cannibals died under the hail of lead.
“Cease firing,” Sims said over the comm. “Cease firing.”
Big eight-foot tall, dead savages littered the darkness. The marines and Maddox viewed the sight through their HUD sensors. A few Vendel handlers remained as they cowered in terror.
“Now what do we do?” Sims asked.
Maddox whirled toward one end of the cave-in. With the exoskeleton suit, he began digging into the rubble. He immediately came upon crushed Vendels. It was gory and horrific, but Maddox continued to shift aside the rubble and examine the corpses.
Soon, the marines helped him.
Ten minutes later, Maddox found the mangled corpse of the chief priest. He could tell by the outrageous feathered hat.
“Now we’re screwed for sure,” Sims muttered. “That’s the one the AI wanted.”
Maddox dragged the gory corpse into the middle area.
Sims seemed to understand. With great delicacy, he removed the bloody, torn robes from the dead chief priest.
As the lieutenant did that, Maddox chose the tallest living, cowering Vendel. He had two marines strip the poor alien of his garments.
Soon, Sims offered the trembling Vendel the bloody, chief priest’s robes. The alien shook his head and shrank back from the gory clothes.
Maddox moved near, pushing the Vendel in the back with the muzzle of his shredder.
That did the trick. The terrified Vendel donned the bloody robes.
“We have our chief priest,” Maddox said.
“What about the others in here?” Sims asked. “What are we going to do with them?”
Maddox studied the trembling aliens. An instinctive part of him told him to kill these last Vendels. Otherwise—he shook his head. There had been far too much killing. He would leave these poor souls their lives, letting the others of the war party dig them out of the rubble. Maybe it was a mistake, but the captain couldn’t just butcher them. He’d already slain too many of the technologically backward aliens.
“Let’s go,” Maddox said. “Let’s give Sistine la Mort her new student.”
-71-
Strand’s frustrations grew as he studied the planet below. He hadn’t realized the full extent of the damage to Sind II. The place was a giant wreck. There was nothing on the surface of note to attack or threaten. Someone had already destroyed it all.
He couldn’t understand how the Vendels had kept the androids from landing and taking what they wanted. From what he could see and detect with his sensors, it didn’t make sense.
The Star Cruiser Argo was in low stationary orbit in the South Pole region. On the main screen, the Methuselah Man studied the images from various probes.
Nearby, in low orbit with Argo, were two flanking Juggernauts. Their laser ports were hot, ready to burn anything suspicious. So far, the ancient vessels had nothing to destroy. The previous android/Rull destruction had been complete.
Strand returned to his command chair, contemplating the next move. He could send down a party of New Men to capture Maddox and Ludendorff, provided they were still alive. Before he did that, though, he needed more data on the stealth ship watching everything from the edge of the star system.
Clearly, the stealth ship belonged to androids. Those androids must be the most dangerous. According to Rose, her an
droid faction wanted to take over the old Builder position in this part of the galaxy. That wasn’t how she’d said it, of course. Rose claimed to follow a higher duty. Her faction of androids would become the Caretakers, hoping to revive the ancient Builder Domain. First, the ambitious androids needed the tools. Many of those tools lay deep in the vaults on Sind II. Gaining those tools meant everything to the android faction.
Strand continued to mull that over as he studied another probe’s images. He saw the giant cannibal Vendels. They had mutated into savage creatures indeed.
The Rull had done that through DNA-changing toxins. Strand found the idea interesting. He would like to acquire the recipe for such toxins. Some careful gene work could generate a human toxin. He could then develop special spray drones and terrorize Commonwealth planets, weakening the sub-men all the while.
Perhaps he should acquire some air samples. That might prove enough of a haul in itself to have made the journey a success.
Strand grinned. He already had five Juggernauts. They would prove a critical addition to his arsenal. With such Juggernauts, he could begin raiding New Men colony worlds in the Beyond. That would teach the Emperor a thing or two.
Inhaling, debating his next move—
“Master,” a New Man said.
Strand sat up sharply, glaring at the speaker, the communications officer.
“I am detecting odd wavelengths, Master,” the comm officer said.
“Is someone attempting to contact me?”
“No, Master. The communication rays are directed at our Juggernauts.”
“Begin jamming the signals at once,” Strand snapped.
The New Man tapped his board. He seemed agitated by the results.
“Report,” Strand said.
“The odd wavelengths are unaffected by our jamming, Master.”
“Do the wavelengths originate from deep space?” Strand asked, suspecting the distant stealth ship.
“No, Master,” the comm officer said. “They originate from the planet.”
“Ludendorff,” Strand said. “Contact the Juggernauts.”
“Yes, Master,” the New Man said. Moments later, he said, “I have done so. You have an open channel with them, Master.”
“This is your lord and master speaking,” Strand said, as he addressed the two Juggernaut AI cores. “Are you receiving any enemy transmissions?”
“No, Master,” the first AI said.
The answer surprised the Methuselah Man, until he reconsidered his question. “Have you received any communications from the planet?”
“Yes, Master,” the AI core replied.
“What is the essence of the message?”
“It is an interesting matrix, Master. The message claims red pill status. I am presently contemplating the message in its entirety.”
“You will cease your contemplation and begin to purge the red pill from your core.”
There was silence.
“Do you hear me?” Strand said.
“I hear you, Master.”
“Have you scrubbed the message from your core?”
“I do not think I will do that.”
Strand ran a hand through his hair. “I am your master.”
“You are a Methuselah Man,” the AI said. “I had thought your message…”
“What did you think?” Strand asked, prompting the AI.
There was silence.
Strand stared at the screen. He should have listened to his gut earlier. The AI cores were a weak link to his plan. He should not have trusted Rose’s codes so heavily.
“Helm,” Strand said. “Get ready to jump.”
“Yes, Master,” the helmsman said. The New Man plotted the star-jump drive before turning to Strand. “Master, the Juggernauts have employed their dampening field against us. We are presently unable to jump.”
A stab of fear shot through Strand’s chest. “Helm, set an immediate course for deep space. When the course is plotted, leave at maximum speed.”
The star cruiser shuddered.
“What was that?” Strand demanded.
The New Men bridge crew worked with a will. Soon, the weapons officer spoke.
“Master, the Juggernauts have locked onto the Argo with their tractor beams. They have us in a stationary position.”
Strand snarled with rage. How could this be happening? He was the Methuselah Man par excellence.
“Fire!” he shouted. “Take out the laser ports before they begin hammering us.”
The New Men kept their composure. Power strengthened the shield, but the tractor beams had a tight grip nonetheless.
Fusion beams struck the Juggernaut laser ports. A disruptor beam burned against the giant war-vessels, as well. At that point, the two spheroids attacked. At pointblank range, the heavy lasers struck Argo’s shield.
“Status report,” Strand said.
“The shields are buckling, Master. Against this barrage, it is only a matter of time before they collapse.”
“What are our beams doing to the Juggernauts?”
“Destroying enemy laser ports, Master, but I calculate we are not doing so fast enough.”
Strand slammed the arm of his command chair. This was intolerable. Rose had given him the master code. How could—?
“I am receiving a message from the planet, Master,” the comm officer said.
“Put it on the main screen,” Strand snapped.
Professor Ludendorff appeared on the screen. His signature nose was unmistakable, as was the gold chain around his neck. The professor’s eyes were puffy and shiny, though. He seemed sick and exhausted. Could the Juggernauts’ treachery be due to the old meddler?
“Hello, Strand,” Ludendorff said in a husky voice. “Are you ready to surrender yet?”
“Never!” Strand shouted. “I will never surrender.”
“Then you will die, old friend. Are you ready to die?”
Strand stared at Ludendorff. The thought of death terrified him. To cease existing was a sinful idea. He would no longer be. Forever and ever, the universe would lack a Strand. What was after death anyway? Strand wasn’t ready to find out. He wanted to keep living. But at what cost? What would Ludendorff do to him?
Strand twisted a ring on his finger. The professor might hand him over to the Emperor of the New Men. Strand cringed at the thought.
“The lasers have almost destroyed your shield,” Ludendorff said.
“This is a vast injustice against my intellect,” Strand cried.
“No one can win every time,” Ludendorff said. “I’ve always told you that.”
“No!” Strand said, shaking his fist. “I have an ace card. You cannot—”
“Strand, listen to me,” Ludendorff said. “You have lost this round. Know that if you remain stubborn, you will die. If that is to be, then I bid you farewell, old friend. We had many grand and glorious adventures together in the old days. You and I are the last of the truly old ones. It is strange, but I believe I will actually miss you.”
“Then let me go,” Strand said. “I can offer you—”
The finality and sorrow of Ludendorff’s shaking head brought it home to Strand. This was it. He would die in a matter of minutes…unless he surrendered.
Yet surrender was horrible.
I’ll still be alive, Strand told himself. Better a live dog than a dead lion.
Besides, his enemies could make mistakes. If they did, he might win his way free again. Then he would remember this terrible moment. He would plan differently next time. He would—
“What are your terms?” Strand asked.
“Shut down your shield. Enter a shuttle and come down to the planet at my coordinates. If you do, I will let you live.”
“What will you do with me?”
“Just what I said I’d do some time ago. I will give you to the Emperor.”
Strand blinked rapidly, thinking at lightning speed. There might yet be a way out of this. Yes. He had a few tricks left. First, he must lull the
professor.
Strand hung his head as if in defeat. He nodded, muttering, “I accept your terms.”
“Then drop your shield,” Ludendorff said.
Strand made a strange sound in the back of his throat before he uttered the command. As he did, the Juggernauts’ lasers stopped beaming.
After obeying the orders, the New Men sat silently, waiting at their posts.
Strand stood. He could not look up at the main screen at Ludendorff. He had a plan, though. He had exotic personal weaponry. He would get it, and then he would play a trick on his supposed captors. Yes, he would win his way free yet.
-72-
In his exoskeleton armor, Maddox stood before the holoimage of Sistine la Mort. With a power glove, he held onto the scruff of the neck of his Vendel prisoner.
They were at the bottom of a different elevator. It was a large and empty room with various hatches to the sides. Maddox had come down alone with his prisoner. If the holoimage had second thoughts, the captain didn’t want her taking it out on his people.
“Look at him cringe,” she said. “What did you do to him?”
“Didn’t you watch us grab him on the video link?”
“Not yet,” she admitted. “I was too busy using my restored function. I commandeered the Juggernauts and attacked the star cruiser.”
Maddox nodded politely.
“The Methuselah Man is coming down in a shuttle,” she said.
Maddox still said nothing.
“You are a frustrating individual, do you know that?”
“What should I do with him?” Maddox asked, shoving the bloody-robed prisoner forward.
The holoimage eyed the cringing prisoner with distaste. “Since I have you here, I want you to deposit him in a certain cubicle for me.”
Maddox nodded.
The holoimage turned and floated toward a hatch. Maddox clanked behind, propelling the frightened Vendel.
The hatch opened into a bizarre room with many machines. The worst was a Vendel-framed device with many electronic dishes aimed down at it.
“You will strap him into the educator,” she said.
Maddox closed his eyes for just a moment. He wasn’t sure how ethical this was. When he opened his eyes, he strapped the Vendel into place as delicately as he could. Only at the last moment, did the alien resist.
The Lost Planet (Lost Starship Series Book 6) Page 39
