The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3)

by Vaughn Heppner

  Meta felt herself slipping into a half-awake state. If anyone other than Dana had been doing this, she would have resisted. It seemed as if she dreamed in a hazy sort of way. The questions became more troubling. Meta’s brow furrowed as her memories returned to the star cruiser in Wolf Prime orbit.

  The deadly ship had seemed empty, which Meta had found strange at the time. Per Lomax had been so arrogant. He’d become angry with Kane much too easily. It had been bizarre.

  Dana’s voice droned on in Meta’s ear. Her memories took her back to the star cruiser. Meta moved down a corridor to the teacher’s chamber. Then, everything became hazy and indistinct.

  Fear welled up in Meta. She cried out on the couch.

  “No, no, don’t be afraid,” a friendly woman said.

  “I am, though,” Meta said. She no longer realized the voice belonged to Dana. The knowledge had become dream-indistinct. “I hate this place.”

  “Why do you fear?”

  “He’s going to enter my mind,” Meta said. “He’s going to twist my thoughts.”

  “Who is?”

  “The teacher. I hate him. He’s a vile manipulator.”

  “Would you like to punch him in the face?”

  “I would love that,” Meta said. “Even better, I’d like to break his scrawny neck.”

  “How can you do that if you don’t know what he looks like?”

  “That’s right,” Meta said. “That’s a good point.”

  “Keep walking down the corridor. Go to the teacher so you can see what he looks like.”

  Meta cringed. “No…please don’t make me go there.”

  “No one is going to make you. You’re doing this in order to trick him.”

  “I don’t understand,” Meta said.

  “You’re the assassin. You can pretend better than anyone can. You’ll get to know him, his habits—”

  “I don’t want to be a secret killer,” Meta said, interrupting. “It hurts too much.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I want to go home. I want to be with Maddox. I don’t want to have these awful feelings inside me anymore.”

  “I know how to make the bad feelings go away.”

  “Tell me, please,” Meta pleaded. “I’ll do anything to get rid of them.”

  “You have to take a good hard look at the teacher. Then you’re going to tell me what he looks like, and I’ll tell Maddox.”

  “What will the captain do about it?” Meta asked.

  “What do you think the captain will do?”

  On the couch, Meta smiled savagely. “Maddox will kill the teacher.”

  “The teacher’s death will free you from the bad feelings.”

  “Do you really think so?” Meta asked in a timid voice.

  There was a pause that seemed to lengthen. Could the speaker be hesitating? “Yes, Meta. The teacher’s death will free you from the bad feelings. I’m certain.”

  “Okay,” Meta whispered. “I’ll try to look at the manipulator one more time.”

  And she did. Meta slid down the tube of her memories, down, down, down to the time in the star cruiser. She found herself walking down a corridor, approaching an evil hatch. The corridors were gleaming silver, so bright, so very bright. Her steps slowed. She didn’t want to go in there.

  Then, the hatch slid open into darkness. The teacher stepped out of the darkness into the silver light. In that moment, Meta could see him, and she described the man to Dana.

  The teacher wore Earth clothes, a bent old man in a suit. He held a cane with a quivering, wrinkled hand. His head seemed too heavy for his frail frame. The skin looked waxy as if it belonged to a mannequin. The blue eyes were alive with burning curiosity, however. A New Man stepped up behind the oldster, waiting. The New Man wore a silver suit, and he obeyed the frail human, acting instantly at each grumbled command.

  Soon after describing the teacher, Meta fell into a deep sleep. She didn’t see Dana get up and hurry into the corridor.

  ***

  “This doesn’t make sense,” Maddox said, after listening to Dana. “The description fits Strand, the chief of Nerva Security on Earth. What was Strand doing on a star cruiser in Wolf Prime orbit?”

  “Nerva Security?” asked Dana. “Strand works for Octavian Nerva?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Is Strand a Methuselah Man?” Dana asked.

  Maddox snapped his fingers. There was the connection with Ludendorff. Did that mean the Methuselah People worked with the New Men? Or did it mean the Methuselah People had something to do with the Thomas Moore Society colonists one hundred and fifty years ago? Had the Methuselah People initially created the beginning New Men? Why stop there? If Strand was on a star cruiser and he worked for Octavian Nerva, why couldn’t Octavian have used the Cestus Hauling Company to send secret shipments to the fledging Throne World long ago? That might explain how a tiny, cut-off colony world could expand into an industrial giant in a few generations.

  “What I’d like to know,” Maddox said, “is how Strand beat us to Wolf Prime.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Maddox told the doctor about his run-in with Strand and Octavian in Monte Carlo before he’d left for the Oort cloud and later Wolf Prime.

  “Interesting,” Dana said. “The way I see it, there’s two ways Strand could have beaten you. One, he hid on Kane’s scout, hitching a ride to Wolf Prime.”

  “I’ve already thought of that,” Maddox said. “What’s the other way?”

  “The Strand Meta saw was a clone of the one in Monte Carlo. You’ve told me before that Octavian Nerva keeps clone guards on his premises even though that’s against Commonwealth laws.”

  Maddox sat down, staring up at the ceiling. “What do we know about the Methuselah People?” Maddox asked the doctor.

  “They live longer. They seldom got colds, flus or other sicknesses, and they—”

  “When I met him,” Maddox said, interrupting, “Strand was incurably sick yet he still had unnatural vitality. Is that why he helps the New Men?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Maddox eyed Dana as his thoughts shifted. “Would a Methuselah Man become a slarn trapper on Wolf Prime?”

  “I’m sure I don’t know,” the doctor said.

  “That strikes me as odd. Ludendorff employing a man like Villars also seemed strange. Maybe they’ve worked with each other a long time.”

  “Villars wasn’t on the original expedition when I was with the professor,” Dana said.

  Maddox gave the doctor a careful scrutiny.

  “Now what is it?” she asked.

  Maddox wanted answers, not more questions. He did not intend to wake up Ludendorff. Villars, on the other hand, was more emotional and lacked the professor’s uncanny intellect. If Villars had been with the professor long enough, the slarn hunter might know critical facets of information about the mysterious Ludendorff.

  Maddox stood, saying, “It’s time to thaw out Villars and ask the man some questions.”

  -21-

  Maddox watched the sergeant wheel a clear cylinder into the medical chamber. Villars lay inside the tube. The man was stiff, barely breathing.

  Following Dana’s instructions, Riker withdrew Villars from the top of the tube onto a medical cot. The sergeant affixed straps to the man’s limbs and medical adhesives onto the skin.

  Soon, Dana began reviving Villars, monitoring his reactions with her instruments. “He’s strong,” the doctor said after a time.

  Maddox already knew that. “How old is he?” the captain asked.

  The doctor shook her head. “Over one hundred at least,” she said. “He could be as old as one hundred and thirty.”

  “How old do you think Ludendorff is?”

  Dana shrugged.

  “Give me an estimate,” Maddox said.

  The doctor became pensive. “Old,” she said.

  “More than one hundred and fifty years?”

  “No,” Dana said, “much ol
der.”

  “Three hundred years?”

  Once more, the doctor shrugged.

  “Are you suggesting Ludendorff is one of the oldest Methuselah People alive?” Maddox asked.

  “I can’t tell you anything for certain,” Dana said, “but yes, that’s what I believe.”

  “Why?” asked Maddox.

  “He knows too much. Sometimes it’s like talking to God, as if Ludendorff has been around forever.”

  Her answer shocked Maddox. But as he thought about it, the captain silently concurred. The professor did seem to know a lot about everything. Did that indicate excessive age? There was a problem with the idea, directly related to the key fact about Methuselah People.

  “If Ludendorff is as old as the hills,” Maddox said, “how has he maintained his high curiosity? I thought Methuselah People became progressively more set in their ways the older they become.”

  “I’ve heard that, too,” Dana said. “It’s strange about the professor, then, isn’t it?”

  “Any theories as to why or how he’s kept his curiosity?”

  “None,” Dana said.

  A beep sounded from the doctor’s panel. Dana studied it before turning to Villars. “He’s coming to.”

  Maddox watched the man stir. The blocky slarn trapper—that wasn’t right. Villars wasn’t really a hunter of Wolf Prime. The professor had indicated before that the man had gone native this time. That would indicate the two of them had been many places together.

  Slowly, Villars unglued his eyes. They were red-rimmed and bloodshot. Here was an unsavory man, a killer, a psychopath with over one hundred years behind him. Villars was a formidable foe, just not as formidable as the professor.

  “You’re awake,” Maddox said.

  Villars tested his straps, trying to lift his arms and then his feet. The man didn’t rave or thrash. He grew still and smacked his lips together. Slowly, he inspected the medical bed, his restraints, his limbs, the chamber and finally Maddox watching him.

  “Pretty happy with yourself, aren’t you, boy?” Villars asked in a raspy voice. “You brought me out of stasis. The starship is traveling. I can feel the vibration. We must be heading for Earth.”

  “We are,” Maddox agreed.

  “The AI okay then?”

  Maddox made a bland gesture.

  “No problem,” Villars said. “I can wait this out. My time will come.”

  “Maybe not,” Maddox said.

  “True,” Villars said. “Maybe not. We’ll see.” The Methuselah Man closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. He kept doing that, expanding his chest as far as it would go. Finally, he exhaled everything, opening his eyes and beginning to breathe normally.

  “Got anything to drink?” Villars asked. “I’m as thirsty as Hell. Stasis always does that to me.”

  Maddox picked up a bottle with a plastic straw, letting the man suck as much liquid as he wanted.

  “That’s good,” Villars said. “Where’s the professor?”

  “In stasis,” Maddox said.

  A frown creased Villars’s leathery skin. “Better bring him up.”

  Maddox said nothing.

  “You don’t know what you’re playing with, boy.”

  “That’s why I had you revived,” Maddox said. “You’re going to tell me what I’m playing with.”

  Villars gave a smoker’s chuckle. “Don’t count on it.”

  “You’re the professor’s bodyguard, maybe his chief of bodyguards.”

  “Think what you want.”

  Maddox had an inspiration. He fell silent, letting the idea sink in first. Obviously, Villars was intransigent, a contrarian by nature. The man had one weakness, though, if his idea proved true.

  “Swallowed the canary, have we?” Villars asked. “Why do you look so happy with yourself?”

  “You’re programmed to protect Ludendorff,” Maddox said.

  Villars stared at him. Suddenly, the man didn’t seem as cocksure of himself.

  Yes. The professor has programmed Villars. Ludendorff doesn’t trust easily, maybe not at all. So, whom can he trust? Those he’s programmed. That’s why the professor could so easily tell that the teacher had modified Meta. The professor recognized the look. What does that say about Strand? What does that say about Ludendorff? Are Strand and Ludendorff two peas in a pod?

  “I want you to realize something,” Maddox said. “I’m going to keep the professor in deep-freeze until we’re back on Earth. Then, I’m handing him over to Star Watch Intelligence. I bet they’ve waited a long time to get their hands on Ludendorff.”

  “You’re guessing,” Villars said.

  “I am,” Maddox admitted. “But it adds up. You don’t want to help me, but you’re going to because you have to protect the professor from falling into Intelligence’s hands.”

  “Wrong,” Villars said.

  “Unless I have good reason to wake Ludendorff, I won’t do it. You need to give me a good reason.”

  Under hooded lids, Villars studied the captain. He seemed to be getting angry.

  “You’re a freak,” Villars blurted, “a hybrid that should’ve been strangled with its umbilical cord at birth. The breeding masters made a mistake letting you live.”

  “You may be right,” Maddox conceded, trying to keep his sudden temper under control. What did Villars know about the breeding masters?

  Villars laughed harshly.

  It reminded the captain that the former slarn hunter was good at reading people. The laugh and the knowledge of the man’s brilliance helped check the captain’s anger at the enemy’s genetic laboratories. He wanted to know a whole lot more about that. Yes, Maddox wanted to scour the universe, eliminating every gene lab and breeding master he could find. But that would have to come later. Stopping the planet-killer was everything now.

  “If you stay silent,” Maddox repeated, “the professor goes to Star Watch Headquarters.”

  “He’ll go there no matter what I say.”

  “You may not like what I am, but I keep my word.”

  “That’s a lie,” Villars said. “You’re an Intelligence officer. You say whatever you have to in order to get people to talk. It’s your stock in trade.”

  “I’ve done some thinking these past few days,” Maddox said, switching tack. “I’ve come to a frightening conclusion as one fact keeps hammering for attention. Out of all the people in the Commonwealth, who would be most likely to think up a long-term eugenics plan that entails ‘culling’ eighty percent of humanity?”

  Villars stared at him.

  “A Methuselah Man would,” Maddox said. “That Methuselah Man owns or has access to the Cestus Hauling Company. I bet he sent ships into the Beyond to help the Thomas Moore Society colonists. The fledging Throne World couldn’t have grown this powerful in one hundred and fifty years on its own. Nerva Enterprises must have been sending supplies on the sly from the start.”

  “You’d better put me back in stasis,” Villars said, “because I’m not going to tell you anything. You can try drugs or hypnotism. None of them will work. You’re right in saying I’ve been programmed. I allowed it willingly. The professor is the one you want to talk to. I won’t give away any of his secrets. If I do, you won’t have to talk to the professor. If I keep mum, though, you’ll have to speak to Ludendorff. The curiosity will drive you crazy. I know that much about you. You have a curiosity quotient that will spin out of control. Wanting to know will make you sick. They were smart to put you into Intelligence.”

  “I’m not going to take your word about the drugs,” Maddox said.

  “Yeah,” Villars said. “I know. It don’t matter, though. I’ve been in bad places before. I probably will be again, if I live through this one. It don’t bother me none. Do what you gotta, boy.”

  “Remember,” Maddox said, “you decided to do this the hard way.”

  “Sure, sure.”

  Maddox headed for the exit. It was time for step two.

  ***

 
Dana injected Villars with a powerful cocktail of mind-benders and will suppressors. She stood by the medical panel, watching his life support signs.

  Maddox sipped a cup of coffee. These sessions could go on for quite some time. Pulling up a stool, Maddox sat down.

  The captain got started, speaking about Wolf Prime, particularly about the dig concerning the Swarm. He couldn’t get Villars to say a thing in response. Maddox talked about Sten Gorgon and the slarn that had maimed Villars. That didn’t produce a flicker either.

  Changing tactics, Maddox began rapid-fire questions. Villars remained closemouthed like a clam. Finally, the captain sat back in frustration.

  Villars laughed in his smoker’s raspy manner.

  “What’s so funny?” Maddox asked.

  “You,” Villars said in a slur. “I’m a dead end for you. Wake up the professor. He can talk if he wants to. I have to wait for orders to do so.”

  Maddox tried more questions, standing close so his face was centimeters from the hunter’s features. Dana left with a mutter of displeasure. Soon, Maddox finally admitted defeat. Whatever Ludendorff had done to program Villars, the captain couldn’t defeat it this way.

  Maddox exited the room, pacing in the corridor. Villars had been a dead end. Now, he began comparing what he knew so far, looking for clues, for something he’d missed.

  Soon, Dana walked around a corner. She stopped in surprise. “You should be in sickbay monitoring Villars.”

  Maddox looked up at her. “Doctor, I’m curious. What do you think the silver object is: the one Ludendorff brought back from the Builder base?”

  “I have no idea,” Dana said. “It’s resisted all analysis. Obviously, it’s Builder technology. That’s another reason we have to wake the professor: so he can tell us what he risked his life to acquire.”

  Maddox eyed the doctor.

  “Ludendorff has been under extreme pressure,” Dana said. “We should help him, not persecute the man. He’s helped us in many areas, fixing the disruptor cannon, ridding Galyan of the Swarm virus—”

  Maddox clapped his hands, grinning, as an idea blossomed in his mind

  “Are you all right?” Dana asked.

  Ignoring her, Maddox said into the air, “Galyan, can you hear me?”