The Lost Star Gate (Lost Starship Series Book 9)

by Vaughn Heppner

  “Knowledge,” he whispered. “This should bring fantastic knowledge. I am the professor. I seek knowledge. This is the great boon.”

  He knew that he was telling himself this so he could screw up his courage. In order for Cronus to sew his balls back on and take charge again—

  “Yes,” he said. “I must be in charge. Too long, I have stepped aside for others.”

  Thus, Ludendorff clenched his jaws, gripped the polygonal stone fiercely and stared into the clear side of the stone.

  It was a frightening sensation of falling, falling and falling into a horrendous abyss of the mind. He felt as if his mind plummeted toward a—

  Ludendorff’s head arched back as if he’d been electrified. The professor’s mouth opened as he tried to scream. His eyes bulged outward. The process…the process…it felt as if his brain was on fire. He heard popping and crackling, he saw a Builder, he saw old Methuselah Men—a riot of images began flashing faster and faster before his inner eye. He delved into the past. He saw the Builder of old programming his mind…

  Ludendorff was on an assembly line of some sort. There were hundreds like him, some human, some not so human. It chilled the professor seeing this. He had always believed that he was unique, a special specimen of the master race of aliens.

  “No,” he whimpered. “I am only one cog among thousands.”

  The images kept flashing in his inner eye. He saw hundreds of Methuselah Men die appalling deaths. They fell like wheat at harvest. They were rooted up like weeds.

  Slowly, it dawned on Ludendorff that he was special. But his uniqueness did not come from his creation, but from his long life. He had been fashioned like thousands, perhaps even millions of others—if one included alien Methuselah Beings—but only a handful of them had survived for as long as he and Strand had done.

  Now began a laborious process that taxed Ludendorff to his limit. His hands remained glued to the stone as it became hot. He sweated until his garments were soaked with perspiration.

  A dim part of him realized that he might be killing himself, or the process was killing him. It wasn’t the heat against his hands, but the sizzling throughout his heightened intellect.

  He saw, he probed, reasoned, rationalized and computed things that he had long forgotten. He—

  The hatch to the chamber opened. Captain Maddox charged within, although Ludendorff wasn’t aware of the intrusion.

  “Don’t,” someone said. “It’s dangerous to touch him.”

  Foam, a torrent of foam, gushed against Ludendorff. It blasted against his face, went down his mouth so he began to choke. It blasted against his hands and cooled the heated rock that he could not release.

  The foam continued to churn, cooling the stone, cooling—Ludendorff ripped his hands free, toppling backward. Maddox tackled him and dragged him through the foam away from the still-pulsating stone.

  “What…?” Ludendorff said. It was his last question before falling unconscious.

  -46-

  Captain Maddox brooded as he stood before an observation deck on Victory. He wasn’t sure what his next move should be. He had several dilemmas and too many questions with too few answers. To help him think, he studied stars. He had his hands clasped behind his back. The Usan star was the brightest object out there. Near the star, he knew, waited twelve cloaked Spacer ships.

  A day ago, one of the ships had uncloaked, glowing eerily. Galyan was still studying the data, trying to determine what, exactly, that meant.

  Maddox shook his head. He wasn’t overly worried about the Spacers. He had other problems that needed his immediate attention.

  The first was Captain Nard and the Bernard Shaw. Despite Valerie and Galyan’s best efforts, they were no closer to a solution to freeing Dana Rich. Nor did they know if more New Men were on the Q-ship.

  The second problem was Ludendorff. The Builder stone was aboard Victory now, in a special safe. The captain had overruled Commodore Tancred, whisking the Methuselah Man and the stone from the Moltke. The professor was still unconscious with burned palms. The man was barely breathing. What had the stone done to him?

  The third issue was Tars Womack the Dominant. Womack claimed he could help Ludendorff. Womack also suggested they summon backup, and annihilate the Spacer ships and storm the Bernard Shaw. According to Womack, there were no more New Men. He had been alone on the Q-ships.

  Maddox had the distinct impression that Womack wanted him to use the Laumer Points that would head inward toward the center of the Commonwealth. Would Victory jump into an ambush if he did that?

  That seemed more than likely.

  Womack claimed he wanted to help, that he was sick of Lord Drakos having used him. The last straw had been Womack’s near death during the questioning, so he said.

  Finally, the last and most important problem was the nexuses that needed destroying. Should he take Victory into the Deep Beyond this instant, searching for the nexuses? How did one go about finding them?

  Yes. If he broke into a nexus and knew how to manipulate it, the thing should bring up a map of other nearby nexuses…

  Yet, how could one lone starship—?

  “Sir.”

  Maddox swung around as his right hand dropped to his holstered side.

  “I am sorry, sir,” Galyan said. “Did I startle you?”

  “How many times have I told you not to come in behind me like that?” Maddox said.

  “Three hundred and fifteen times so far,” Galyan said.

  “That was a rhetorical question.”

  “Oh. Yes. That makes sense. I shall add new parameters to my matrix in order to—”

  “Galyan,” Maddox said, interrupting. “Why are you here?”

  “The professor, sir,” Galyan said. “He is awake and he is asking for you. He said it is urgent.”

  “Right,” Maddox said. “Maybe now we can find out what the professor was doing with the Builder artifact.”

  “And what the artifact does, sir.”

  “That’s what I just said.”

  “Not precisely,” Galyan said. “In point of fact, you just—”

  “Galyan,” Maddox interrupted.

  “Ah. I realize what happened. I was too garrulous. Besides, the professor said immediately. Shall I tell him you are on the way?”

  “No,” Maddox said, as he headed for the hatch.

  “Should I join you, sir?”

  “No, Galyan. Keep watch of the Bernard Shaw for me.”

  “For what in particular am I watching?”

  “You’ll know when it happens,” Maddox said, exiting the observation deck and hurrying for medical.

  -47-

  Ludendorff was propped up in bed when Maddox entered the medical chamber. The professor’s burned hands were bandaged and he had tubes in his arms. His white hair was in disarray, all things the captain had expected. What he hadn’t expected was the large smile on the professor’s face.

  The Methuselah Man did not look like someone demanding immediate action or everything would go south.

  “I’m glad you’re here, my boy. We must strike now before time runs out on us.”

  Maddox stood motionless for a moment.

  “Did you hear me?” Ludendorff asked.

  “I did.”

  “Well?”

  “Why are you smiling?”

  “What? Oh,” the professor said, nodding. “Yes. I quite understand. The dichotomy has flustered you, and well it might, well it might. Now, look here, first things first, right?”

  “Professor, what happened? You wouldn’t release the rock even though it was burning your hands.”

  “Yes, yes, that’s perfectly obvious. By the way, thank you for your quick thinking. How did you know to bring an extinguisher?”

  “I didn’t. Galyan suggested it. He popped in on you and popped out as I ran to…to help you.”

  “Stop me is what you mean,” the professor said.

  Maddox and Ludendorff stared at each other.

 
“Yes,” the captain said. “I came to stop you, possibly kill you.”

  “Ah. Good. You’re going to tell the truth. That will save us time. We don’t have much left, you know?”

  “Are you referring to the nexuses?”

  “Soon enough, my boy,” the professor said. “At this point, I’m referring to the star cruisers undoubtedly racing to intercept us.”

  “You saw that with the stone?”

  “Eh? Saw it? What do you mean ‘saw it’?”

  “Like the Builder Scanner at Pluto,” Maddox said.

  Ludendorff shook his head. “No, no, no, that’s not it at all. The rock isn’t a scanner.”

  “What is it then?”

  Ludendorff opened his mouth, possibly to answer, and then he closed his mouth with a click of his teeth. “You don’t know what it does, do you?”

  “Are we going to play twenty questions?” Maddox asked.

  Ludendorff’s nostrils flared, the smile lost most of its power and he abruptly shook his head. “No. As much as I’d like to make you squirm, this time, you and I have to work in tandem. You may not see it, but trust me, you desperately need me this voyage.”

  Maddox waited.

  “Oh, this is most unfortunate,” Ludendorff complained. “I finally have the upper hand and I must relinquish it because otherwise the Human Race dies. Why do I always have to save humanity from destruction? No,” the professor said, raising one of his bandaged hands, rustling the plastic tube attached to his arm. “I know the answer to that. It was the reason why I was formed, and the reason why I have survived the centuries. It is my duty. It is my obligation—but not an obligation to the Human Race, as such. Rather, I am obligated to—”

  “Professor, what in the world are you talking about? You’re not making sense.”

  Ludendorff carefully lowered his bandaged hand, until it rested on his blanketed lap. He sighed, looking down at his hands, and then looking up at Maddox, studying him.

  “You are the last person I truly wish to confide in, you know,” Ludendorff said. “Your arrogance—let me rephrase. I’ve wanted to wipe away your knowing smirk for so long, my boy, so very long. You always come out on top, and that has been very trying on me these past few years.”

  Maddox said nothing, wondering where the Methuselah Man was going with this.

  “You’re a—oh, never mind,” Ludendorff said. “I had a crisis of soul, you could say. I despise anyone controlling me and especially controlling my superlative mind.”

  Maddox nodded briskly, wishing the old coot would get on with it.

  “Creating the soul weapon truly taxed me,” Ludendorff said. “I fled to the Bosk world, and there…there…”

  The professor’s features tightened until they had turned into quiet rage. “Strand’s people got hold of my mind. You know all that. I haven’t decided yet if Lord Drakos got the better of Strand or if it was the other way around. One thing I do know: Womack is a deadly danger to us. We must beware everything he says.”

  Maddox did not respond.

  “I know, I know,” Ludendorff said. “You believe—” He stopped talking and decisively shook his head. “No! I don’t have time to indulge in theatrics. Drakos or Strand, it doesn’t matter to us now. What matters is that Womack is their creature. I believe there are other New Men in striking distance of this star system. It is the rational explanation for what we’ve witnessed.”

  “Professor, what does any of this have to do with the Builder stone?”

  “That’s a good question, an astute question. I went to the stone because I divined some of its properties beforehand. It is an ancient device, once used by Builders all the time.”

  “It wasn’t made for human hands?”

  Ludendorff snorted. “On no account, my boy. The process nearly killed me. I do believe I would have died if you hadn’t happened by with your foam. You likely saved my life.”

  “Galyan had a hand in that.”

  “Even though this is hard to say, thank you, my boy, thank you. I appreciate your timely aid.”

  The words shocked Maddox. It took him a second before he said, “You’re welcome, Professor. I was glad to do it.”

  Ludendorff nodded, inhaled and stared at Maddox. “The stone is an ancient device that linked with a Builder mind. It augmented his reasoning capacity. It added computing power—if one wants to use a mechanical explanation as to what the stone did.”

  “Why did it burn your hands, then?”

  “A simple process of heat transfer,” Ludendorff said. “That occurred because of the electrical connection with my brain’s neurons. The connection gave me greater thinking power. With the added capacity, I carefully thought through several problems. I also studied my memories, searching for clues. I did a self-diagnostic, you could say. I found one or two other compulsions or hypnotic commands inserted into me on the Bosk world, and I eliminated them. I purged my brain of foreign control so that I once more was fully Professor Ludendorff.”

  “Oh,” Maddox said.

  “Luckily, I was able to free myself quite early in the process,” the professor continued. “That allowed me time to study various problems, coming to logical conclusions. Naturally, pure logic cannot always succeed in a world of emotive creatures like men. I did teach myself how to use the nexuses with greater clarity.”

  “What?” Maddox said. “That sounds impossible.”

  “To an ordinary monkey brain such as ordinary people possess, yes, I would agree. We’re talking about an advanced Methuselah Man mind already enlarged by the original Builder modifiers. My mind was fashioned or shaped so I could use an input augmenter. You see, it’s easy, really. I simply used my memories of the time I’ve been in a nexus. I looked at the controls in my memories and used storage data in the augmenter and taught myself to remember the correct methods of usage.”

  “You’re saying—”

  “My boy,” Ludendorff interrupted. “I now know more about nexuses than my esteemed college, Strand. If you can get me inside a nexus, I can figure out what you need to know to detonate it and use it to find other nearby nexuses.”

  “Did Womack know about the augmenter?” Maddox asked, suspiciously.

  “He might have known through Strand,” Ludendorff said.

  Maddox shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense then. When Womack was in charge of the expedition, why didn’t he reroute the Moltke, board the battleship and take the Builder artifact—”

  “Listen,” Ludendorff said, interrupting. “Can you listen to me for a moment?”

  Maddox nodded.

  “We lack time,” the professor said. “We should have already gone to the first nexus—”

  “Professor,” Maddox said.

  “What? Oh, yes, quite, quite, you want me to get on with it. I must confess, it is quite stimulating having one’s intellect enlarged as I’ve just experienced. I am the true genius due to the augmenter. According to my calculations—”

  “Professor, get to the point. You’re driving me crazy.”

  Ludendorff cocked his head and frowned a moment before nodding. “We must storm the Bernard Shaw at once. We must save Dana and the Moltke’s marines—”

  “That’s out of the question. As soon as we storm the Q-ship, Captain Nard will kill Dana at best.”

  The good will evaporated from the professor’s features as a sinister intelligence radiated from the Methuselah Man’s face.

  “Listen here, my boy. This is what I suggest you do if you want to storm the Bernard Shaw the easy way.”

  Ludendorff began telling him, and Maddox found the plan intriguing…

  -48-

  Saving Doctor Dana Rich and one-third of the Moltke’s marines proved technologically provocative. Maddox had expected a daring rescue or possibly having Ludendorff build a stasis field, such as Strand used to employ. The rescue problems were legion; the stasis field seemed like the only way to go.

  Ludendorff had a different idea. It helped that he remembered e
verything about the Q-ships that the Draegar had instructed him to forget.

  “The beauty of the plan comes down to their extreme paranoia,” Ludendorff lectured. “The Bosks owe that paranoia to their evolutionary modifier, Strand. He really cannot trust anyone. It is his great failing.”

  Maddox found it frustrating listening to all this. He constantly prodded the professor to hurry up.

  In the end, Galyan was the main instrument of liberation, although Maddox paved the way for the holoimage’s insertion onto the Bernard Shaw.

  “Now see here, Captain,” Maddox said from Victory’s bridge. “How do I know the doctor is well enough to trade?”

  Captain Nard leered at him from the screen. “Take my word for it. She’s well.”

  Maddox smiled grimly while shaking his head. “But I don’t and won’t take your word for it. I must see for myself or have a representative of mine see before I can agree to a swap.”

  The leer slipped away as Nard become angry. “Have a care how you speak to me, half-breed.”

  The insult caused a twitch in Maddox’s right cheek. But he suppressed it and analyzed the words. Why would Nard say such a thing? The most reasonable explanation was that he’d heard someone else say it. The logical someone would be a New Man. That raised the odds that at least one New Man was aboard the Bernard Shaw. The raised odds gave Maddox greater confidence in Ludendorff’s strange plan, as the professor had predicted more New Men.

  “I need confirmation on the doctor’s mental and physical state,” Maddox said evenly.

  “Then I want confirmation that the Dominant is well.”

  “Fine,” Maddox said. “Send someone over to check him out.”

  Nard’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “This is a trick,” he said. “I don’t know how, but it is.”

  “It’s hardly a trick,” Maddox said. “It’s a fair offer, tit for tat.”

  “You’re suggesting we exchange officers?”

  “No. I’m sending my holoimage aboard your vessel.”

  Nard’s head swayed back. “Your holoimage? No. That’s out of the question.”

  “I don’t see why,” Maddox said reasonably. “A holoimage is as harmless as they come. It’s an image, a projection. The instant you raise your shield, you’ll cut the projection ray and the holoimage will disappear from your vessel.”