All the while, Mako waited within the life-pod, wondering who was going to greet her when its outer hatch opened.
-54-
Mako felt a gentle push against her right shoulder. She awoke with a start, having fallen asleep in her life-pod.
Despite her best efforts to probe the outer surroundings with her Spacer transduction modification, nothing had worked. That had astounded her until she’d found an intricate force field surrounding her pod like a bubble. At that point, she’d known that someone with Spacer understanding and tech had captured her. Instead of worrying endlessly, Mako had concentrated on survival and gone to sleep, conserving her energies.
Now, she had awakened with a start as a—she yelped in surprise. A robot gently pushed her right shoulder. She scrambled away from its touch and struck the robot with her transduction, finding the thing’s controls and shutting it down.
The metal construct crashed onto the deck, its various lights going dark.
Galvanized into action, Mako stood, gingerly stepping over the thing. The life-pod had normal gravity. She lurched forward and passed through the open hatch, entering a small cargo bay with many strange machines surrounding her life-pod.
She tried to use transduction against them, and realized the machines generated the force field that had kept her mods at bay.
Walking faster, she physically pushed through the force field. Good. The field was only meant to keep out Spacer transduction, not a physical body.
A small cry of glee escaped her, but she refrained from running. Instead, she stopped and took stock of the situation, slowly scanning around.
A hatch to her left was open. Had the robot come through there? Mako headed in that direction.
Should she use her transduction to scan ahead? Mako decided against that. If her adversaries were aware of Spacer tech, they might be monitoring for that. Maybe it would be smartest to simply use her senses to assess the hauler.
Mako passed through the hatch into an empty corridor. Her stomach rumbled. She was hungry, but she ignored that. Her legs felt rubbery because she’d been trapped in the life-pod for too long. Shaking her head, refusing to let that bother her, she broke into a trot.
Soon enough, she reached another hatch, tried to manually open it, and found it locked. Now, she used her transduction, manipulating the interior energies. A lock clicked, and the hatch slid up.
Mako stepped through, and she stopped in shock. She had stepped onto a balcony overlooking a huge hangar bay. On the deck below were several Spacer saucer-shaped ships in special cradles fabricated to hold the bulbous centers.
Mako blinked in bewilderment. Spacer ships? Hadn’t the New Men captured the Sulla 7? Why then were Spacer ships docked down there? Why weren’t there vast quantities of Usan crystals?
Before Mako could use her mods to study the ships, she heard the scrape of shoes behind her.
“Impressive, eh?” a man asked.
Mako whirled around and squeaked in terror. A small, wizened man in black clothes regarded her. He had wrinkled features and jet black eyes that radiated menace. He wore a bronze pendant on his chest. It maintained a force field around him. He also gripped a pistol aimed at her.
“Strand?” she whispered.
“A clone merely,” he said.
“But…”
“Yes, you killed me on Usan III, isn’t that right?”
“Me?”
“You ordered me killed. I know that much.”
Mako nodded woodenly. A Strand clone had come to Usan III. At her orders, a Spacer operative had slain the clone. Well, the operative had reported to her that he’d completed the mission.
“The operative lied to me,” Mako said, understanding what must have happened.
“Yes,” the clone said.
“How did he…? Why did…? I don’t understand.”
The Strand clone chuckled nastily. “You will understand eventually. Now,” he said, waving the small pistol, “move along. It’s time you woke up to reality.”
Mako frowned more deeply. “Maddox found a dead Strand clone in the desert with two varths waiting for him.”
“That wasn’t me, of course,” the clone said. “It was a simulacrum of me, good enough to fool the half-breed.”
Mako rubbed her forehead. “How can you be here? Why did my operative lie to me? Did you brainwash the operative?”
“Dear girl,” the clone said. “You will move along. You’ll have all your answers in a moment. It is going to surprise you, believe you me.”
Mako swallowed and she felt faint. She hadn’t foreseen Strand in any of her futures. Did that mean she no longer had a path, or was Strand able to hide himself in the future paths that Spacers could travel?
She didn’t see how that could be possible.
Numbly, Mako passed the clone of a Methuselah Man and walked down a long and empty corridor.
“Tell me this,” she said once.
“No talking,” the clone said. “This is a surprise. It’s going to help you.”
“Why would a Methuselah Man help a Spacer?” she asked.
“That’s a good question. It’s a…” Strand fell silent.
Mako looked back over her shoulder. The clone seemed troubled. That made no sense.
“What’s going on here?” she asked.
“Shut up,” he said in an ugly tone. “Just do as you’re told, you stupid wench. Can’t you get anything right?”
Mako’s lips firmed as she decided to remain silent. Time passed as they marched. She grew faint as her stomach rumbled.
“It’s not much farther,” the clone said, sounding like himself again.
Finally, the clone directed her to a hatch. Mako steeled herself and headed toward it. Something blocked her transduction from scanning what lay beyond the entrance.
The hatch slid up. She went through, and a provost marshal clicked a device while other marshals grabbed her, yanking her to the side. Then, yet more provost marshals grabbed the clone. Apparently, the marshal clicking the device had shut down the clone’s pendant-generated force field. A different marshal ripped the pistol out of Strand’s hand.
“You could have just asked for it,” the clone complained.
Mako couldn’t believe this. Spacers were in charge of the hauler—or had Spacers invaded the Nerva ship while Strand had gloated over her?
“Mako,” a familiar voice said. “Do close your mouth. It’s time for the next step in your training.”
Mako looked around, but couldn’t see who had said that.
Then, an entire bulkhead slid up. Behind it sat the new Visionary on a great white throne. She wore a polar bear fur and gripped a staff with a sparkling gem on the end. Around the throne were armed provost marshals with drawn guns. Everyone wore the customary Spacer goggles.
“Visionary?” Mako asked.
“It is I,” the Visionary said lightly.
Mako turned to Strand. The small clone was in the grip of two provost marshals. The Strand clone seemed quite unhappy about it.
The Visionary chuckled. “Yes, you’re amazed. But enough of that. It’s time for you to learn a secret, dear one. Come, Mako, come and sit down at the foot of my throne. I’m going to tell you what happens from here.”
-55-
Starship Victory hurtled through the Beyond, using Laumer Points and the star drive when it helped expedite matters. The navigators used star charts gained throughout the years by Patrol surveys, with the professor filling in the blank spaces.
Brigadier O’Hara had left some time ago, joining Commodore Tancred on the Moltke when it had headed out of the Usan System.
Ludendorff had healed from the second ordeal with the Builder stone. He’d wanted to free Dana from her mind conditioning, but Maddox had told the Methuselah Man to wait for several days. The professor had argued until the captain had become insistent.
“Give me one good reason why I should wait,” Ludendorff demanded as they argued in an observation bubble.
“I watched you during the brigadier’s therapy,” Maddox said. “While using the stone you turned unbelievably pale, whiter than I’ve seen anyone become. And there was something about you then that troubled me.”
“Please be more specific,” Ludendorff said icily.
Maddox nodded. “You didn’t quite seem human anymore.”
“What?”
“Professor, I’ve seen beings change. Last voyage…” Maddox shook his head. “It is a terrifying thing you’re doing. You’re linking your mind to an ancient Builder tool. How can you be certain the tool isn’t changing you as you use it?”
“Don’t be foolish,” Ludendorff said. “I’m in total control of the situation.”
“Ah. I see. That’s why I have to spray you with foam each time. That’s why we have to pry you from the linkage. Because you can disengage from it any time you want.”
Instead of becoming angry, the professor became thoughtful. “You may have a point,” he finally said.
Maddox raised his eyebrows. That did not sound like the Ludendorff he knew.
“What’s wrong now?” Ludendorff asked.
“Your reasonableness,” Maddox said.
“Are you trying to insult me?”
“The opposite,” Maddox said. “This is visible proof that you’re changing. We’d better think long and hard before you risk the stone again. You don’t want to transform into an alien entity.”
Ludendorff blinked repeatedly, finally sitting down in a chair. “Do you have any water?”
Maddox went to a small bar, grabbed something and pitched the professor a water bottle.
The professor unscrewed the top and guzzled the contents, gasping afterward. “Yes. I see what you mean. We’ve run across strange things in our journeys. We’ve seen Swarm viruses and a Builder device controlling a Destroyer. Maybe the linkage is a subtle trap. It’s hard to fathom that because I feel so much stronger and in charge of myself. Yet, I’ve already wondered if I might become too intelligent with repeated uses.”
Maddox said nothing.
“In such a case, I would develop beyond humanity. I would transcend normality and become… I don’t know what I would become. I’m not sure I’m ready to evolve into something else. I like myself just as I am. No. This could be a sweetened trap as you’ve suggested. Who doesn’t want to become even smarter and wiser, knowing more and more?”
“What will we do with Dana then?” Maddox said.
“You’re asking me?”
“Professor, I’ve never found you to be this reasonable. I would like to reward it, encourage it. Yes. I want to restore Dana. Surely, with your heightened intellect, you can come up with another method of restoration.”
“Hmm…” Ludendorff said, as he drummed his fingers on a side desk. “I think Draegar 2 might have a better idea.”
“I’m sure of that,” Maddox agreed. “How do we get Draegar 2 to talk, if he can talk?”
“If I could link with his mind—no, I’ve already rejected that route. This is harder than I realized. By linking with the Builder stone, I can solve many complicated problems. Yet, if I link up with it, the thing may subtly change me until I’m something different.”
“We have to get the Draegar to communicate with us,” Maddox said. “Wasn’t one of his functions to figure out more regarding nexuses?”
“I suppose that’s true,” Ludendorff said. “Now, Captain, let’s change tracks for a moment. We’re heading for the New Man nexus. We should arrive there in a week. It’s the only local nexus whose location I know. Unfortunately, there might be star cruisers guarding it. What do we do in that instance?”
“I haven’t decided yet. It will depend upon if it’s a Throne World star cruiser or one of Lord Drakos’s groups.”
“Let’s consider a hostile group first.”
“In that case, it would depend on how many star cruisers are blocking our path,” Maddox said.
“Surely, you’ve come up with contingency plans.”
Maddox shook his head.
“Hmm…” the professor said. “The New Man nexus, for lack of a better term, isn’t like the Xerxes System’s nexus. That was a haunted star system. This one is devoid of any unusual structures or legends.”
“Or anything that might drive you to distraction?” asked Maddox.
Ludendorff waved that aside. “I’m not the same as I was in those days. Remember, the old compulsions were still buried in me then. Now, I am my own Methuselah Man.”
Maddox turned sharply to peer at Ludendorff.
“Did I say something foolish?” the professor asked.
“Strand likely has deep compulsions.”
“I suppose that’s true. What’s your point?”
“Could those ancient compulsions have driven you two into your…traitorous acts?”
“Hardly traitorous—” Ludendorff shook his head as he stopped speaking “That’s an interesting speculation, my boy. I don’t know. I’ll have to think about that. Whatever the case, we have to ready ourselves for the worst. Once we use the nexus, the hyper-spatial tube will launch us far into the Deep Beyond. It will be like last time we went out there. The pressures of the Deep Beyond will mount. Can your current crew take it as well as the crew that went deep before?”
“We’ll make it work.”
“You’re missing my point,” Ludendorff said. “We have a week to prepare. A week to save Dana. A week to make Draegar 2 talk or to find a way to communicate with him. We—and you as the captain—should do everything in our power to ready the crew to excel in the Deep Beyond as we face… What are we going to face? I suspect we will face new dangers, marvelous and deadly beyond anything we’ve seen so far.”
“Maybe we’ll face three hundred thousand Swarm vessels guarding a nexus,” Maddox said.
“That’s a real possibility we shouldn’t discount.”
Maddox nodded solemnly. “You raise excellent points. I’ll have to call a meeting and light a fire under my chief people. You’re right. This is a time to get ready. Once we’re in it… The Deep Beyond…it was a terrifying journey last time we went out so far.”
“I think we’re a stronger ship than before,” Ludendorff said. “I’m stronger. You’re more humane. The others have faced perilous tests. This time…the Swarm Imperium, we’re going to take on one of the strongest, if not the strongest, political entity in our galaxy. That’s food for thought, eh? Victory truly is a one-of-a-kind vessel to attempt this.”
“Right,” Maddox said. “We need Dana. So, before we part and get started on our separate tasks, let’s decide on a preliminary way to begin to restore the doctor the hard way. If we can find a better way, well and good, but maybe we’re just going to have to muddle through this. What do you suggest, Professor?”
Ludendorff gave it serious thought. Then, he began to tell the captain what they should do.
-56-
The week racing through Laumer Points and jumping with the star drive propelled the ancient Adok starship through the near Beyond and into what Patrol people called the mid Beyond.
Ludendorff did not give the navigators the Throne World System’s position. Instead, he gave them enough data so Victory unknowingly skirted around the fabled system as it headed farther out to the waiting nexus.
They traveled inward along the Orion Spiral Arm, meaning that if they continued in this direction over time—a long, long time—they would reach the galactic core.
Twice, Valerie detected star cruisers in the distance.
Each time, Maddox ordered evasive maneuvers.
Not once did the star cruisers attempt to chase or hail them.
“Are they under orders to ignore us, do you suppose?” Valerie asked the captain on the bridge.
“What about that, Professor?” Maddox asked.
“Their behavior was strange to be sure,” Ludendorff agreed. “This deep into the Beyond…I would have thought the New Men would challenge our presence. Perhaps the latest Swarm attack has
caused them to change their protocols. Yes. That is undoubtedly the answer.”
They continued to race through mid-Beyond star systems.
During the seven days of endless jumping, the professor worked with Dana and a psych team. She was under constant watch and evaluation.
“It’s difficult not using the stone,” Ludendorff admitted to Maddox one day. “I believe I could cure her like that.”
The professor snapped his fingers.
Maddox continued to counsel patience, and reluctantly, the professor agreed.
They had no more luck with Draegar 2. The bronze-skinned Bosk spent his time in silent contemplation, often staring at a bulkhead or restlessly playing chess against himself.
At the professor’s suggestion, they gave the Bosk access to online books. Draegar 2 read voraciously, devouring thick volumes in a matter of hours.
One evening ship-time on the fifth day from the Usan System, Maddox and Ludendorff studied a video of Draegar 2 hunched over a reading screen, flipping a page every few seconds.
“You’re telling me he’s ingesting the text’s meaning, reading like that?” Maddox asked.
“Absolutely,” Ludendorff said.
“What’s his IQ?”
“I’m beginning to wonder if it’s higher than mine.”
Maddox did a double take.
“Believe me,” Ludendorff muttered, “I’m also astounded at the idea.”
“Forgive me, Professor, but I’m more astounded that you would admit to such a thing. It’s out of character.”
Ludendorff frowned as he side-glanced at Maddox. “Are you attempting to goad me?”
“No. I’m…surprised. Draegar 2 is truly smarter than you even after your using of the Builder stone?”
“That does seem preposterous the more I consider the idea,” Ludendorff said. “Yet, I cannot read like that. And yet…you defeated the combined Draegar. He can’t be that intelligent then. But…he soundly tricked me.” The professor shook his head. “I don’t know what to suggest. The only way we can link with him—”
The Lost Star Gate (Lost Starship Series Book 9) Page 29
