“Strand did not give specifics,” Oran Rva said.
Meta struggled to understand what that meant.
“It doesn’t matter,” Oran Rva said. “To the victor goes the spoils. Once I own the doomsday machine, I will dictate terms. I will unite humanity under my crown. I will find Strand and make him kneel before me, or I will kill him.”
Kane raised his head. “You did kill Strand, dominant.”
Oran Rva sighed once more. “Soon, Kane, I will return you your intellect. I slew a clone. Don’t you remember? The real Strand is still out there. He is a clever Methuselah Man, as difficult to kill as Professor Ludendorff. The two are different sides to the same coin.”
Meta wondered what that meant.
“Come,” Oran Rva said, as he raised the silver ball. I cannot wait any longer.” He shut off the helmet lamp and bypassed the three fallen machine creatures.
At last, they exited the vast chamber, coming to another corridor. This one was huge like everything else here. After three hundred meters, Meta looked into a smaller chamber. It had three torn cocoons with tubes dangling from them.
“The creatures obviously came from here,” Oran Rva said.
“Dominant,” Kane said. “Notice the other, intact cocoons. They squirm. A spike, I see a spike punching through one.”
Meta stepped back. Thirty or more black silky cocoons shivered, with more wet spikes punching through.
“Quick,” Oran Rva said. “Give me a pulse grenade. It’s time to use one.”
Kane pulled out a heavy ball from a pouch at his side.
Oran Rva flicked a button on the pulse grenade. Red numbers flashed along the side. He bowled the grenade so it rolled between shivering cocoons. Already, one of the things emerged, its three red eye-dots shining evilly.
“Run!” Oran Rva shouted. “I set the grenade for maximum blast.”
Meta clutched her cone rifle against her chest. She ran in the excess Gs. The New Man easily outdistanced the two of them. He reminded Meta of Maddox doing that.
Kane lumbered beside her. She wondered if he could go faster. Probably. Even so, he stayed with her.
A terrific explosion shook the resin-like walls.
“Down,” Kane roared.
Meta threw herself onto her stomach. Seconds later, heat billowed over her. Static burst in her headphones.
Slowly, she turned her head, peering at Kane. He looked at her as he lay on the deck. She wanted to ask him if he would serve Oran Rva willingly for the rest of his life.
“Come,” the New Man radioed. “Why are you waiting? The pulse grenade worked, and those things are dead. We have many more kilometers to go to reach the driver.”
Wearily, Meta rose. The doomsday machine seemed to be a horrible mixture of incredible technology and eerie, bio-matter robots with alien insect walls. She had begun to suspect that something dark beamed fear at them. This was unlike anything she was used to.
With sweat trickling in her eyes, Meta climbed to her feet, hurrying to catch up to Oran Rva and his stressor.
-42-
Maddox led the way through the strange corridors of the doomsday machine. A growing fear had slowed his step. The sensation was oppressive and malignant.
He’d drawn his blaster some time ago and had to work to keep from firing blindly into the darkness. Someone or something watched him. Yet no matter which way he turned, he couldn’t spy the watcher.
The captain hissed between his teeth. Did something truly watch, or did he feel an aura of death from a machine that had slain billions maybe trillions of living beings? How old was the doomsday machine? Could massed death through endless ages have soaked the ship with a feeling of doom?
Maddox silently sneered at the thought. He was a Star Watch Intelligence officer. He had a task to perform. Therefore, he needed to concentrate on that and burn away extraneous ideas or feelings of dread. This was a ship like any other. Age didn’t matter. Ambiance good or bad made not a whit of difference. He had to reach the controls before Oran Rva did. That was going to be difficult, though. The planet-killer was huge, with endless paths.
Behind him, Keith helped the sergeant. Riker stumbled from time to time, clutching the ruined bionic arm against his chest.
Maddox had felt the four shivers earlier and heard the eerie groans as if the machine was alive. Maybe Star Watch had found a way to attack the planet-killer. The process hadn’t repeated. Maybe it had been a one-time attack. If that was true, the machine yet moved against Earth and the assault had failed to stop the ancient destroyer.
How much time did they have left? Had he chosen the right paths? A man could wander these corridors—
Maddox halted, staring at a wall.
“Is something wrong, sir?” Riker radioed.
Ignoring the sergeant, Maddox approached the wall. A black line a meter long marked two polygonal shapes.
With his heart beating faster, Maddox looked around, searching for other lines. He didn’t see any. With his blaster drawn, Maddox increased the pace. The malignant oppression still weighed down his mind, but now, he felt a stir of curiosity.
Then he spied a second line. Twenty-six steps later, he saw a third.
“What is it?” Keith asked. “What are you looking at?”
“Stay alert,” Maddox said.
“Alert? I’m sick to my stomach with fear, mate. My eyes feel like they’re going to pop out of my head. This place is worse than any Halloween barn I’ve been to, worse than any horror show I’ve seen.”
“Ignore the feeling,” Maddox said.
“Are you daft?” Keith asked. “You don’t ignore something like that. I’ve been praying ever since I entered here. I can hardly—”
“Quiet,” Maddox said. “We have company.” He stood at an intersection of corridors, peering around a corner. Down the length of the dim hall with its resin-coated walls approached a hideous monstrosity.
It had eight spindly spikes that moved in sharp jerks up and down, propelling the body. Over that was a platform of crystal that glowed eerily, providing the extra illumination. Attached to the crystal were separate cockroach carapaces. Each of the bio-matter forms supported an odd-shaped crystal with mechanisms whirling within.
Maddox realized his sense of fear came from the thing. It radiated off the crystals. That made no sense to him.
Darting back, Maddox motioned to the sergeant. Riker pulled away from Keith, staggering to the captain.
“Grenades,” Maddox said in a choked voice. “Give me three.”
Wordlessly, Riker used his good hand, digging out three grenades, handing them one at a time to Maddox.
The captain didn’t trust his blaster against the crystal thing. He also didn’t want to expose himself any more than he had to. There was something extra-sinister about the robot, plant, insect, whatever the approaching thing was.
Holstering the blaster, Maddox activated the first grenade, moved to the corner and slung the grenade underhanded at the thing. He did the same with the other two grenades before shifting to safety.
Seconds later, explosions shook the corridor. They were ordinary grenades, not the pulse type Oran Rva had used.
Drawing the blaster, taking a deep breath, Maddox peered around the corner.
The thing had canted onto its side. Oil gushed from the torn carapaces. Some of the mechanisms in the crystals still moved.
“Give me one more,” Maddox said.
“It’s my last grenade, sir.”
“Do it,” Maddox hissed.
Wordlessly, Riker gave the captain the last grenade.
Maddox steeled himself. Then, he dashed around the corner. Immediately, waves of fear billowed against him. The captain knew the machine or thing saw him and went into overdrive. It radiated the raw emotions at him.
Maddox felt as if he drove himself against a hurricane. Wheezing gasps hiccupped past his throat. Tears sprung to his eyes. He didn’t care. He had a job to do. This thing tried to stop him. It used—
A raw sound of anguish tore past Maddox’s lips. He activated the grenade, setting it among the crystals. Then, Maddox sprinted for the intersection.
He dove around the corner, landing on the spongy deck. He wasn’t sure he heard the explosion. The immediate cession of the fear told him the last grenade had done its job, though.
“What just happened, mate? I feel ten times better.”
“It’s gone,” Maddox said, climbing to his feet “That’s what matters. Maybe it has more of them, though.”
“Who has more?” Keith asked.
“The doomsday machine,” Maddox said.
“Is it alive?” the ace asked.
“Is Galyan alive?” the captain rebutted.
Keith’s helmet tilted as if he thought about it. “Sure seems like it to me.”
“Same thing with the planet-killer,” Maddox said. “I can think like myself again, and I can finally tell you. I’ve seen evidence of Per Lomax.”
“What?” Keith and Riker asked together.
“Blaster burn marks on the walls,” Maddox said. “The New Man must have made it this far. I’m betting that thing I just broke had something to do with Per Lomax’s death.”
“How do you know the New Man died?” Keith asked.
“Because he didn’t stop the doomsday machine, now did he?” Maddox said. “In any case, we’re going that way.” He pointed down the corridor with the broken crystal thing.
“Any special reason why?” the sergeant asked.
“Yes,” Maddox said, although he didn’t elaborate.
***
They found Per Lomax’s corpse twenty minutes later. The carcass lay in a large chamber, crumpled forward on a dim, spongy deck.
“What killed him?” Riker asked.
Maddox knelt, gently turning the corpse onto its back. Three stab wounds had opened the vacc-suit many weeks ago.
“Nasty,” Riker said. “Looks like whatever did this got close.”
“Yes,” Maddox agreed. He didn’t have to search the body long. The corpse’s gloves gripped two items. One was a blaster. A quick checked showed Maddox the battery was drained. The other item looked like a recorder with a small screen.
“What’s that?” Keith asked, as Maddox picked up the recorder.
“I’m betting it’s something Ludendorff gave the New Man, something to help Per Lomax while he was in here.”
“Ah,” Keith said.
Maddox examined the recorder and screen, finally pressing what looked like an activation switch. Nothing happened. Did it have any power left or not? He studied the small device longer, finally opening a slot on the bottom. A ball dropped out of it. He’d seen a ball like this before, but where…
“I remember,” the captain said. Opening a pouch on his vacc-suit, he pulled out the force field ball Dana had given him. Removing the chain, he fit the ball into the empty socket.
Closing the slot, Maddox tried the switch a second time. A grin split his features as the screen activated.
“It works,” Keith said.
“So it would appear.”
“You’re a clever man, Captain,” the ace said.
Maddox didn’t have time to bask in the compliment. He examined the device again.
“Say,” the ace said. “When you turned it on, I felt even better.”
Maddox nodded.
“You know why?” the ace asked.
“Likely, there are more fear-producing machines wandering the corridors,” Maddox said. “Maybe they have to be near for the full effect. Maybe you were feeling one that’s headed our way.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“No,” the captain agreed. “Ah, I think I may have something.” He showed the others. What appeared to be a schematic of the vessel showed their position and the location of what Maddox surmised must be the control room.
“Does it give any distances?” Riker asked.
“No.”
“How about—”
“Just a minute,” Maddox said. “I think…” He adjusted the controls. Tiny blue dots appeared on the screen. The dots were near the control room. “I think I may have found Oran Rva. Look.” He showed the others.
“It seems we’re going to have to increase our pace. It should help that we know where we’re going now. Are you two ready?”
“Let’s do this,” Riker said.
The ace nodded his agreement.
***
Maddox could feel Riker trembling through the vacc-suit. The sergeant struggled to maintain the hard pace. Clearly, the man’s injury pained him.
Keith also dragged. No doubt, the wearying Gs took their toll.
The sense of urgency grew in Maddox. He wanted to sprint ahead and attack the others. There was another problem. Every second longer they took, the doomsday machine flew that much closer to Earth. If they took too long, Star Watch wouldn’t have a fleet left.
Finally, the urgency boiled up in the captain’s chest. It forced him to say, “We have to run.”
“How long do you think we can run under these conditions?” Keith asked.
“We’re about to find out.”
“Sergeant?” Keith asked. “How do you feel about that?”
“This isn’t a debating society,” Maddox said. “Ready, Sergeant?”
“No,” Riker said, wearily. “But that never stopped me, sir. This is like Loki Prime all over again. Instead of the infected prisoners chasing me, we’re chasing the end of our world.”
“Correct,” Maddox said.
The captain gripped Riker around the waist and began to run. Riker stumbled, but found his footing. Together, the two Intelligence operatives lumbered down the corridor. Keith struggled to keep up.
Soon, Maddox heard the harsh sound of Riker and Keith’s breathing in his headphones. He kept pulling the sergeant with him. Every time he glanced back, the ace doggedly remained a few steps behind them.
In time, their breathing worsened, becoming harsh.
“We’re running out of time,” Maddox told the other two.
“Yeah,” Keith wheezed. Likely, it was all he could say.
They hit a ramp, and Riker stumbled. Maddox held the sergeant up until the man found his footing again. When the captain looked back, Keith had lost several meters.
“Need…rest,” Keith wheezed.
“Not yet,” Maddox said. “We have to push. Think of it this way, nothing else you’ve ever done in life matters as much as this. We have to reach them in time to save the human race.”
They ran through massive corridors and crossed bigger chambers. There were dark pits, crystal machines emitting loud clicking noises and another room that was thick with a cloudy atmosphere. In there, discs of varying sizes changed position with electrical discharges zigzagging between them. Motes shimmered in the cloudy haze.
Maddox tried to encourage Keith. The captain discovered that the shortwave radios didn’t work in here. He had no idea what kind of alien technology the discs represented.
Riker stumbled more and more often. The man’s strained features looked old and weary. Sweat stained his leathery skin, and his eyes stared straight ahead. The sergeant didn’t complain, though. Maybe he couldn’t anymore. He seemed to be on autopilot.
Keith had dropped even farther behind by the time they left the floating disc chamber. The ace now limped noticeably. Maddox also felt the strain, but what he felt even more was a terrible sense of urgency.
They turned a corner, and it felt as if someone slugged Maddox in the chest.
He saw thirty, bio-matter, robotic creatures. They had spikes for legs, three dots in a triangle for eyes and five spike arms. In swift, jerky movements, the thirty robots headed in the direction of Oran Rva’s party.
Keith made a strangled noise over the headphones.
Maddox glanced back. The ace fell onto his chest, having tripped or given up. The next moment, Maddox drew a blaster. He didn’t have time to hide or figure out a different way to reach
Oran Rva. Thirty alien machines blocked the way and he had to get rid of them now.
“Are you ready, Sergeant?” Maddox asked.
“I’m no good shooting left-handed, sir. I’ll give you my blaster.”
“The two of you go back around the corner and hide,” Maddox said.
“No,” Keith said.
“Don’t be stupid,” Riker said. “Do as the captain tells you. If he’s worrying about us, he won’t do his job as well.”
Maddox didn’t wait to see if they obeyed him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the sergeant set his blaster down on the spongy deck by his feet and back away.
Maddox picked up the second blaster. He had no idea how much of a charge these weapons had. Today, he would find out one way or another. Aiming at the first head, Maddox pulled the trigger.
A pencil-thin beam gushed out and burned the first head. He shot a second and a third. Oil gushed from neck trunks. Each of the machines collapsed and froze. More oil pumped onto the floor, soon sinking out of sight.
The seconds passed and Maddox continued to burn them down. He waited for the other bio-robots to turn around and attack. They never did. Each surviving creature continued to spike-step forward, following their programming without deviation.
Maddox felt a tug at his shoulder. He turned, staring at Riker.
“Stop, sir,” the sergeant radioed.
Maddox lowered the blasters.
“I’m thinking you don’t have to kill them,” Riker said. “They’re going after the others, right?”
“Right,” Maddox said. He should have already figured that out. He was tired and getting sloppy. “Where’s Keith?”
“I’m coming,” the ace said.
As the three men spoke, the remaining bio-robots continued to jerk down the corridor, ignoring the broken machines behind them.
“How much of a cushion should we keep between them and us?” Keith asked.
“We’ll hang back a little,” Maddox said. “I want to keep them in sight, though.”
The three men walked past the frozen robots. There was no sight of the spilled oil.
Ahead of them, the other bio-robots moved faster than they appeared to be going. Soon, the three men broke into a jog. Even so, the alien constructs gained separation.
The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3) Page 37
