The Lost Patrol

by Vaughn Heppner

  He explained that to them.

  “I’m not an Intelligence officer,” Valerie said. “But the Atlantic Builder base proves the Spacers were behind the original android assault. The Spacers have fooled us with their so-called pathologies regarding androids.”

  “That doesn’t hold,” Maddox said. “The Atlantic Ocean androids belonged to the Builder in the Dyson sphere. That Builder made the Methuselah Men, like Strand and Ludendorff. The Spacers hate those two.” He hesitated before adding, “I’m convinced that means we’re looking at two different Builders with possibly different goals. The Builder who created the Spacers is different from the one who created Strand and Ludendorff and unleashed the androids. And we all know that Spacers hate androids—that has been one of the few known facts that dates back at least twenty years.”

  “If Spacers hate androids so much,” Valerie said, “why didn’t Shu tell us about the ones in our ship? With her adaptations, she must have known androids had snuck aboard.”

  “Andros?” the captain said.

  The Kai-Kaus looked up sharply from his location at engineering.

  “Explain that, would you?”

  The stout Kai-Kaus scratched one of his fleshy cheeks. “The reason for Shu’s silence seems obvious. We would have asked her how she knew about the androids. To convince us, she would have had to explain about her adaptations. Those, she wanted kept secret.”

  “For those reasons,” Maddox said, “Shu stays. Her usefulness seems greater than her danger. Remember, we’re attempting the impossible. Thus, we need powerful if dangerous tools to succeed.”

  Valerie nodded slowly. “If I don’t fully agree, at least I understand your thinking. Thank you, sir.”

  ***

  Several days later, Maddox sat in the command chair as Victory exited the final Laumer-Point, entering the fabled Xerxes System.

  The system was like the ancient Bermuda Triangle, home to sinister legends. The alien Destroyer had been parked here before it had launched onto its deadly run. There were a few planets in the system, but the great danger had always been in the artificially constructed asteroid belt. The various rocks and debris were much closer than ordinary, more akin to Saturn’s rings than the Solar System’s far-flung asteroid belt. The giant silver pyramid known as a Nexus was in the belt, as were hidden silver drone bases. Star Watch vessels carefully searched for more drone bases. Other Star Watch vessels searched for any other hidden anomalies. Those searches were conducted with the utmost caution and over-watch protection.

  It wasn’t long after Victory’s exiting of the Laumer-Point that Star Watch Admiral Esmeralda Diaz Lucia Sanchez hailed the ship.

  The admiral controlled the flotilla guarding the star system. She had two older Bismarck-class battleships, a newer Python-class heavy cruiser, two strike cruisers loaded with antimatter missiles and seven old destroyers. Five of those destroyers were presently combing the belt. Several construction vessels were busy building a space station in orbit around the nearest planet.

  Maddox knew that Sanchez had strict orders from Lord Admiral Cook to keep well away from the silver pyramid. No one wanted her flotilla entering a suddenly appearing hyper-spatial tube as had happened to Port Admiral Hayes last year. She was also supposed to keep everyone, including Ludendorff, from approaching too closely to the Nexus.

  Admiral Sanchez appeared on the main screen with her long dark hair and intensely dark eyes. She was lean, smooth featured, and was almost one hundred years old.

  After finishing with the pleasantries, Maddox asked, “Is Professor Ludendorff in the system?”

  “He is,” Sanchez said.

  “I take it he’s aboard your flagship,” Maddox said.

  “On no,” Sanchez said. “The professor has refused every invitation. He’s in a former luxury yacht, bombarding the Nexus with endless sensor scans.”

  “He’s near the pyramid?”

  “As near as I’ll allow him. The Wurzburg keeps a close eye on the professor, ready with its tractor beam to pull his vessel back if it has to. Currently, both starships are approximately four hundred thousand kilometers from the Nexus.”

  That was approximately the distance of the Moon from Earth.

  “Have you at any time allowed the professor closer than that?” Maddox asked.

  “Not on your life.”

  Maddox felt a little easier hearing that. “Have you spotted any cloaked vessels in the system?”

  “None,” Sanchez said, becoming curious. “Why do you ask?”

  “We detected a cloaked star cruiser following us in the Tosk CL System. Since then, we haven’t picked up any more stray signals. Some of us believe the star cruiser might have raced here ahead of us.”

  “Raced ahead of Starship Victory?” Sanchez asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

  “I know that sounds improbable.”

  “More like impossible,” Sanchez said.

  “If it were any other vessel, I would agree. This is the infamous cloaked star cruiser, however. Its owner is Strand.”

  “Oh,” Sanchez said. “We’ll redouble our surveillance efforts. Is there anything else we should know?”

  Maddox nodded. “Have any Spacers entered the star system?”

  Sanchez’s eyes widened. “Why, yes,” she said. “We had to order a Spacer convoy out of the system a few weeks ago.”

  “Was there anything unusual about that?”

  Sanchez studied him, seeming suspicious now. “Have you already been in contact with the professor? I’ve heard rumors about an interstellar communication device. Now I’m thinking these rumors are true”

  “I have not been in contact with the professor,” Maddox said. “I take it the Spacers had something to do with Ludendorff?”

  “The other way around,” Sanchez said. “Ludendorff alerted us to their presence. They appeared to have slipped into the system without my pickets having noticed them. It was embarrassing, to say the least, and it still remains perplexing.”

  “The Spacers didn’t use a regular Laumer-Point?”

  “I’m not sure they used a Laumer-Point at all. They slipped unseen into the system. How, I don’t know. They did leave using a Laumer-Point. Ludendorff had become quite frantic at that point, claiming the Spacers intended him harm. There was one unusual event at the end of the encounter.”

  Maddox waited.

  “The Spacer commander suggested I keep a close eye on Ludendorff.”

  “Did he say why?”

  Sanchez shook her head.

  “What did you make of that?” Maddox asked.

  “That the Spacer commander knew the professor. The man is brilliant, but I suspect he gets on everyone’s nerves after a while. That would include mine.”

  “Is there anything else I should know, Admiral?”

  Sanchez shook her head again. “We’re here any time you need us, Captain. All I ask is that you don’t unintentionally take us into a hyper-spatial tube with you. I understand…the nature of your assignment. The Lord High Admiral briefed me before I left Earth.”

  “Thank you for everything, Admiral. We’ll begin our acceleration to the asteroid belt. We’re going to be going all the way to the pyramid.”

  “I figured as much. Good luck, Captain, and be careful. This star system…it’s haunted. We can all feel it. I’ll be glad once my duty here is over.”

  Maddox made a few polite noises before signing off. Afterward, he instructed the helm to take them toward the belt.

  Victory had made it to the Xerxes System, and the professor was waiting for them. Had the Methuselah Man figured out how to break into the Nexus and make it work for them? Just how dangerous was this going to be? And why had Spacers been nosing around? It must have been for the same reason that Shu had wormed her way onto the starship. Would the Spacers dare to attack a Star Watch flotilla? That would be against all their previously known actions.

  Maddox stood. “Lieutenant, you have the bridge.”

  Valerie nodd
ed her assent as Maddox exited the chamber.

  Soon, in a gym chamber, he wrapped his fists. He wore a pair of shorts and sparring shoes. His taut muscles visibly tightened and relaxed as he knotted the ties. He slipped leather gloves over that and began to strike a heavy bag.

  The captain hit hard, making the bag swing. He was lean like a predator, without an ounce of fat. The growing unease in his stomach tightened. It caused him to become expressionless as his speed increased, and he struck the bag with endless combinations.

  During the exhibition, Galyan appeared. The Adok holoimage watched with interest.

  “You’re quicker than I remember,” Galyan said.

  Maddox jumped back, surprised by the appearance. He realized he’d become too absorbed with his boxing. Only now did he realize the professor made him…anxious would probably be the right word. Ludendorff always had something up his sleeve.

  “I’m quicker?” Maddox asked.

  “Fractionally so,” Galyan said. “Perhaps in trying to compensate for the Spacer toxin, your body fought back. Now that the toxin has dissipated, you have gained the tiniest bit. Instead of harming you, the Spacers have actually aided you.”

  The holoimage smiled.

  “What now?” Maddox asked.

  “Could this have been Shu’s true purpose?” Galyan asked. “Was the toxin actually meant as an aid?”

  “I doubt it.”

  “That rings true to form,” Galyan said. “My analysis of your personality has shown me that you do not anticipate outside help from anyone.”

  “That’s quite enough,” Maddox said.

  “I have found that self-examination is a helpful process—”

  “Galyan!” Maddox said.

  The holoimage stopped talking.

  “We will leave off this line of conversation. That is an order.”

  “Yes, Captain,” Galyan said. “Oh. By the way, Professor Ludendorff has a message for you.”

  “What is it?” Maddox asked guardedly.

  “He hopes to meet with you personally before you begin the joint venture to the Nexus.”

  “Why?”

  “He has a favor he wants to ask. He said it is most urgent.”

  Maddox used his teeth to begin pulling off the leather gloves. Ludendorff wanted a favor. He didn’t like the sound of that.

  -27-

  Many hours later, Lieutenant Noonan was on the bridge, sitting in the captain’s chair. On the main screen, she watched a shuttle leave Ludendorff’s luxury yacht.

  There were plenty of asteroids in the way. Farther off was the Nexus. From here, it was a bright point. In a few minutes, the point would slide behind another asteroid.

  Valerie was nervous. Each time they came to the Xerxes System, something unexpected and bad happened.

  Ever since entering the system this time, a pressure had begun to build up in her head. It was a subtle feeling of an alien threat. The New Men were bad enough. This felt worse, something inhuman.

  That bothered her, especially as she tried hard these days to be cheerful. She’d gone to several seminars back on Earth. The speakers suggested that people made their own luck, whether good or bad. If one thought negatively, she created the soil, as it were, for bad seeds to sprout and flourish. If one thought positively, the opposite happened.

  Life constantly threw you curves. How you reacted made the difference. And Valerie believed that. She’d always been negative, and bad things always happened to her. Yet, she believed, the captain thought positively, and he’d made it through many disasters. If she was going to make something out of her life, she’d better start thinking positively too.

  That was hard, though. Something bad was just waiting to happen. She could feel it, and she knew that she had a sense for these things. The captain always pulled the craziest assignments. Maybe it had something to do with Victory. Everyone serving aboard the ancient Adok starship seemed destined for endless bad luck.

  Galyan was proof of that. What a terrible existence, to be alive but a ghost of an AI. The Adok’s soul had witnessed his race’s death. Now, Galyan continued to linger, drawing bad luck onto himself and everyone around him.

  Why am I so morbid? We annihilated the Destroyer. We’ve beaten our enemies each time. We saved humanity from the New Men. How can I call any of that bad luck? We’ve had fantastic luck each time.

  Valerie continued to think positively, fighting against her basic nature. Her dad had been the world’s greatest pessimist, complaining about everything. Not that she blamed him. If she’d lost her legs—

  “That’s strange,” said Henry Smith-Fowler, the blond-haired weapons officer.

  “What’s wrong?” Valerie asked, as worry spiked her chest.

  “I just picked up a foreign radiation signature,” Smith-Fowler said.

  “Where?”

  “Between us and the professor’s shuttle.”

  “Zoom in,” Valerie said. “I want to see this. I also want you to ready a tractor beam and a neutron cannon.”

  Smith-Fowler tapped his panel.

  The main screen wavered for just a moment. Then, Valerie saw a blue exhaust simply appear and lengthen.

  “Why don’t I see anything at the front of the exhaust?” she demanded.

  “I suspect because the object is cloaked,” Smith-Fowler said dryly.

  “Beam it.”

  Smith-Fowler glanced at her before he tapped a control. A neutron beam lashed into existence, stabbing into the starry void.

  “Lieutenant,” Smith-Fowler said, “I think the hidden object has a distortion field.”

  “Fire again but this time in a spread,” Valerie said. “Lock onto it at the same time with the tractor beam and begin pulling it toward us.”

  Smith-Fowler manipulated his controls. “I can’t lock onto anything because nothing appears to be there.”

  “By the direction of the exhaust plume, it’s headed for the shuttle,” Valerie observed.

  “Agreed,” Smith-Fowler said.

  Three more times, the neutron beam slashed into the void. Each time, nothing more happened.

  The shuttle began evasive maneuverers while expelling chaff and decoy emitters. Another long blue tail appeared. This one was farther out. It headed for the luxury yacht.

  “What’s happening?” Valerie shouted. As soon as she did that, she silently berated herself. As acting captain, she had to remain calm. That helped others stay calm.

  “Someone must have slipped the stealth objects into position quite some time ago,” Smith-Fowler said.

  Valerie’s heart rate increased. “We have to protect the professor, as he’s our key to using the Nexus. Galyan,” she called. “I need your assistance.”

  Nothing happened.

  “Galyan!”

  At that point, on the screen, the hidden missile with the visible exhaust exploded near the evading shuttle.

  Valerie bit a knuckle, straining to see the results. It showed several seconds later as the blast evaporated. The shuttle had become expanding debris. The warhead had destroyed it and surely killed everyone onboard.

  The Adok holoimage now appeared on the bridge.

  “Take over targeting,” Valerie told Galyan.

  “You do not have the authority to give me override rights,” Galyan said. “That belongs to the captain alone.”

  “Then call him or go see him,” Valerie shouted. “Tell him what’s happening.”

  At that moment, the second missile exploded. This one hadn’t made it as close to its target. The blast struck the yacht’s shield, turning it a deep shade of red. The shield held, however, and the yacht remained intact.

  “Are there any more of those things?” Valerie demanded.

  “Not that I can detect,” Smith-Fowler said, hunched over his panel.

  Valerie kept staring at the main screen. Someone had attacked and destroyed the professor’s shuttle. What were they going to do if Ludendorff was dead?

  -28-

  Maddox lis
tened to Galyan explain what had happened.

  The captain had waited in a room near the selected hangar bay so he could immediately greet Ludendorff. He now sat stoically, considering the possibilities of this latest development.

  “You are taking this much more calmly than is your usual wont,” Galyan said.

  Maddox focused on the holoimage. “This is the Xerxes System, and we’re talking about the professor. I expect the unexpected here. I’ve also learned to distrust the first report of Ludendorff’s death. Besides, if there were hidden drones waiting for the professor, I believe he would have known that.”

  The captain grew thoughtful again. “Have we contacted the yacht yet?”

  “Yes. Lieutenant Noonan spoke to Doctor Dana Rich.”

  “How did Dana take the news?”

  “Like you,” Galyan said.

  Maddox rubbed his chin, concentrating. Soon, he asked, “What were Ludendorff’s driving characteristics?”

  “He was brilliant,” Galyan said promptly.

  “And?”

  “He was deceptive.”

  “He also had access to one of the most remarkable tools in Human Space: a long-range communicator. With it, he could send and receive messages across many light years.”

  “I do not see the connection of the communicator to his death,” Galyan said.

  “Consider,” Maddox said. “Might there be something in the Deep Beyond that neither the Spacers nor the Methuselah Men want the other side to get?”

  “You speak as if Strand and Ludendorff are on one side.”

  “Maybe against the Spacers they are,” Maddox said.

  “This is interesting,” Galyan said. “Please continue.”

  “The Spacers slipped into the Xerxes System several weeks ago. Admiral Sanchez had to order them out. Now, cloaked weaponry has destroyed Ludendorff’s shuttle but failed to destroy his yacht. I think Ludendorff wants us to believe the Spacers attempted to kill him. We will likely discover that he has miraculously survived. The payoff for the professor will be in demanding that Shu go back to Earth.”

  Galyan’s eyelids fluttered. “That would mean someone on Earth told Ludendorff about Shu’s coming.”