Given enough time, the crew could probably bring Victory back to sixty, maybe sixty-five percent efficiency. The Chitin particle beams had done too much damage for anything more. The beams had been extremely short-ranged, but once able to reach, they had created a disproportionate amount of destruction. If the shield had been up, none of that would have mattered. Could-have, would-have, should-have, the shields had been down and those particle beams had been brutal. Maybe the particle beams were the reason the Chitins had done so well against the Swarm for so long.
Victory faced nine Spacer ships. They were larger versions of the saucer-shaped vessels Maddox had faced at the Dyson sphere over a year ago. The saucer circumferences were three-quarters the size of one of Victory’s two oval areas.
“Until we know otherwise,” Maddox said. “We will work on the assumption that each Spacer vessel has a New Man star-cruiser-like capacity for battle.”
“That means in a straight fight we’re outmatched out here,” Valerie said.
“The correct word would be ‘overpowered,’” Ludendorff told her.
The nine Spacer vessels approached in a staggered formation. They’d dropped their cloaks but had strong shields. If the starship’s sensor readings were correct, each of them had also targeted Victory and charged their weapons for firing.
“Do you know what you’re going to say?” Ludendorff asked the captain.
Maddox did not reply.
A few moments later, Valerie’s comm board blinked. She’d taken over comm duties for the moment. She tapped her board, listening with an ear-jack.
“Captain,” the lieutenant said.
Maddox nodded imperceptibly.
The main screen wavered before revealing an old woman with wrinkled features and white hair. She sat upon a throne-like chair on a dais. She wore goggles just like Shu, but had a white polar bear fur wrapped around her. The Visionary, just like the last time Maddox had seen her.
“Hello, Captain Maddox,” the Visionary said in the same hoarse voice she’d used on the airship on Earth.
Maddox inclined his head while making a smooth gesture of respect. “It is good to see you again, Visionary. Much has taken place since I’ve last spoken to you.”
The Visionary peered at him from the main screen. “There is a new aura about you, Captain. You have grown. I congratulate you on your step upward to greater awareness.”
“Thank you,” he said.
The old woman picked at her polar bear fur as if spotting a piece of lint. After she was satisfied, the Visionary looked up again, asking, “Where is Shu?”
“On a medical bed,” Maddox said promptly.
“Is she ill?”
“No.”
A hard smile slid into place. “Captain, do we need to spar with each other? What has happened to Shu?”
“Yes,” Maddox said.
“Excuse me?”
“You will have to spar verbally to gain what you want.”
The Visionary’s smile tightened. “Do you think that wise given our disparity in numbers and firepower?”
“The disparity makes the sparring critical,” Maddox said, “as knowledge is one of my few assets in dealing with you today.”
The Visionary shook her head. “Captain, Captain, you’re mistaken. We are the Spacers. We’ve maneuvered in the background for ages. Out of all the human tribes and races, we know how to wait to get what we want.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Maddox said. “May you go in peace, Visionary. It has been pleasant seeing you again.”
She waited several seconds before saying, “I understand your nature, you know. There are several things I can count on about you. One of them is your New Man’s arrogance. Do you realize this about yourself?”
Maddox said nothing.
“It is true, Captain. I also sense that many in your crew realize this to be true.”
“Madam,” he said, “you have the upper hand today. What do you propose to do with it?”
“Get what I came for,” she said. “You do know what I came for, don’t you?”
Maddox studied her. She seemed to accept that, waiting for him to reach what she no doubt thought of as the obvious conclusion.
“You want what we’ve all wanted,” Maddox said, “greater knowledge about the Deep Beyond. You want to know more about the Builders, the Swarm Imperium and whatever else we found out there.”
The Visionary leaned forward minutely. “What did you find?”
Maddox shrugged.
“You wish to push the issue, is that it?” she asked.
“I’m not going to help you decide whether you should risk open war against the Commonwealth to get what you think we have.”
“What risk?” the Visionary asked. “You’re all alone. It is why I chose this star system. I can take what I want without the Commonwealth or anyone else ever knowing about it.”
Maddox smiled faintly. “It was a good plan except for one minor but critical miscalculation.”
“Please,” she said. “Are you going to claim Star Watch has hidden ships in the system?”
Maddox said nothing.
“I realize you love to bluff, Captain. You’re also di-far, making you a formidable opponent. I, however, am the Visionary. I am a di-far in my own right.”
“Would you call this meeting a cosmic occurrence then?”
“I do not enjoy sarcasm,” the Visionary said, “particularly from a whelp of a New Man. While you have great gifts, your genetic path leads to a terrible dead-end for humanity.”
“If true, why did you seek me out?”
“Clearly, I wanted to use your gift and your starship. Now, Captain, please, no more of this foolishness. Did you find the golden pyramid?”
Maddox said nothing.
“Your lack of surprise at the question leads me to believe you did. This is wonderful news, wonderful. I will send a team of translators aboard your vessel. I will want every account of your journey—”
“Visionary,” Maddox said, interrupting her. “Let me enlighten you about a technological device you may have forgotten or never known the professor possessed. I am referring to his long-range communicator. I have already been in contact with Star Watch. I have advised them about our situation and possible standoff with the Spacers. If Star Watch does not hear from us soon, the Lord High Admiral will know you ambushed my starship. That will mean a Spacer war with the Commonwealth. Are you ready yet for full-scale war?”
The Visionary leaned forward as if searching his face for signs of truth or falsehood.
“You’re lying,” she said softly.
Maddox said nothing.
That seemed to irritate her. “Did you enter the golden pyramid?”
Maddox still said nothing.
“I can destroy your ship,” she said.
Maddox said, “How would that help you discover whatever it is we found on the other side of the hyper-spatial tube?”
“Captain,” Valerie said. “Spacer assault shuttles have begun launching from their saucer-ships.”
Maddox made a show of flipping up a cover on his right armrest. He tapped in a code. Once done, he detached a smaller red cover from inside the rest.
He looked up. “If your people board my vessel, I will self-destruct the ship.”
“You’re bluffing,” the old woman said.
“I cannot bluff you,” Maddox said. “You are the Visionary. Thus, I must actually destroy Victory.”
“You’ll die if you do that.”
“We all die someday,” Maddox said. “The key is to die well and take down an enemy if you can. Besides, I refuse to be anyone’s pawn. I refuse to aid anyone at war with the Commonwealth. Thus, if you persist in a boarding attack, I will self-destruct the starship. If you let Victory go its way, in time, your spies will no doubt discover what we found on the other side.”
“You are shrewd and ruthless,” the Visionary said grudgingly. “You seem to realize how much we want…” The old woman turned aw
ay, speaking softly to someone off-screen. Finally, she sighed, facing Maddox again.
“You win this round, Captain. Pray to whomever you worship that you never fall into our hands again.”
Maddox glanced at Valerie.
“The assault shuttles are still gathering,” the lieutenant said.
“I now begin Phase Two of the self-destruct sequence,” Maddox said. He flipped a switch and began mumbling words toward the armrest receiver.
The Visionary made a hasty sign to someone off-screen.
“The assault shuttles are reversing course,” Valerie said. A few seconds later, she added, “They’re breaking up their formations and heading back to their respective ships.”
Maddox felt a trickle of sweat under his arms as he waited a little longer.
“Well, Captain,” the Visionary said.
“Until your saucer-ships leave the system, I will keep the self-destruct sequence at its present level.”
The Visionary looked as if she would say more. Abruptly, she closed her mouth and the main screen went blank.
Shortly, Valerie said, “The Spacer ships are heading away, accelerating at high speed.”
“My boy,” Ludendorff said, sounding winded. “That was an insane risk. Would you really have detonated all of us into oblivion?”
“Yes,” Maddox said.
Ludendorff stared at him a few moments longer before swearing under his breath. He glanced at Maddox again and swore even louder. In a growling huff, the professor stomped off the bridge.
Maddox looked around at the bridge crew. Many of them were pale and sweaty. “You did well. Soon, we should be back on Earth. But now isn’t the time to relax. We could still have problems before we’re safely in Earth orbit.”
The captain stood, tightening his knees so his legs wouldn’t quiver. After a moment, he headed for the exit.
“You have the bridge, Lieutenant,” Maddox said over his shoulder.
“Yes, sir,” Valerie said, standing.
Maddox exited the bridge and walked briskly down a hall. Galyan appeared beside him. The holoimage gave him a long and meaningful glance.
“You have something to say?” Maddox asked.
“No Adok warship ever had a self-destruct button built into it,” Galyan said. “I am not aware that Star Watch put one into my starship either.”
“Yes, you’re right,” Maddox said. “There was no self-destruct. I used temperature controls to pretend I did have a self-destruction option.”
“Ah…” Galyan said. “So you did bluff the Spacers. The Visionary was wrong about that.”
“Like everyone else, she believes I act like a New Man. People expect outrageous actions from the New Men. Therefore, I gave her what she expected.”
“That is clever. But Captain, isn’t it wrong to have tricked the crew about the self-destruct? They trust you and—”
“My crew knew it was a bluff,” Maddox said, interrupting. “If you noticed their unease, it was due to whether or not the Visionary would believe me or not. The only one on Victory who didn’t know I was bluffing was the professor.”
Galyan’s eyelids fluttered. “That is interesting. For once, the Methuselah Man did not know something that everyone else did know. That is funny.”
Maddox glanced longer than usual at Galyan before nodding, increasing his pace. He wished he could spend some time hitting the heavy bag to release some of his tension.
-74-
The next few hours proved tense as the Kai-Kaus technicians and Star Watch repair crews worked overtime. Valerie led the teams keeping watch over the Spacers, who were still in the star system.
“I don’t trust them,” she said on the bridge.
Maddox agreed. He kept Ludendorff and Galyan scouring ship’s systems, looking for secret infiltration attempts.
Several hours later, the three of them met in an engine-access chamber, with the thrum of the antimatter engines in the background.
“Spacers practice deception better than most,” Ludendorff told Maddox.
The professor listed four different Spacer deception assaults on the AI core or regular computer systems he’d discovered and aborted in the last few hours. Two of the assaults had been similar to Shu’s attack in the smashed star system. The two latest attacks had been several times more powerful than Shu’s original attack against Galyan.
“I am feeling uneasy,” Galyan admitted.
Maddox nodded. “That is a natural emotion. You should not fear it.”
“Yes,” Galyan said. “I do fear. Does that mean I am becoming more emotional?”
“Would that be bad?” Maddox asked.
“It might hurt my efficiency.”
“You fought off Shu’s adaptation attacks,” Maddox said. “The Spacer told me you succeeded against her because of your Adok personality. Maybe that means emotions helped you.”
“Interesting,” Galyan said.
“Your unease regarding these further deception attacks against you might also have helped you ward them off. If you are becoming more emotional, it is making you less predictable. Thus, you should welcome the unease.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Galyan said. “I appreciate these insights.”
“It helps that Shu hasn’t aided the other Spacers,” Ludendorff said. “Shu knows us and Galyan better than the Visionary or her people do.” The professor hesitated before asking, “Do you really believe the Visionary programmed her?”
“I spoke with Dana,” Maddox said. “She thinks they molded Shu with the adaptations. It appears to be another price for gaining the Builder devices—a leash on the bearer’s mind. However, it doesn’t seem to be the same as what Strand has done to his New Men. Dana thinks the commands or impulses only surface at the most critical moments. Until such times, the individual appears to have free will.”
Ludendorff looked away.
“Is something the matter?” Maddox asked.
“The professor is wondering if the Spacers are following Builder norms,” Galyan said. “If that is so, he further wonders if the Builders have inserted secret codes and responses into him.”
Ludendorff turned around to stare at the holoimage. “What a preposterous suggestion.”
“You are attempting misdirection with your statement,” Galyan said. “I know that because I have discovered that I am becoming more skillful every voyage. I am adapting to my new surroundings and understanding humans better and better.”
“What nonsense,” Ludendorff said. “I am not guided by dead aliens. I am my own person.”
“Then why—” the holoimage said.
“Galyan,” Maddox said. “You will desist with the questions. We are concentrating on the Spacers and on getting home to Earth.”
“Yes, Captain,” Galyan said.
“Bloody, interfering AI,” Ludendorff muttered.
“Professor,” the holoimage said, “I will have you know—”
“Galyan,” Maddox said. “Do not let the professor provoke you. There are times when silence is golden.”
“That is another aphorism,” Galyan said. “Thank you, Captain. I believe I understand this one without further detailed study.”
***
Several hours later, Chief Technician Crank announced that the star drive was ready for use. They could leave the empty system at any time.
Maddox told Ludendorff and Galyan to run a last internal sweep. He had Crank assist them. They found a faulty shuttle reactor core. If they had used the star-drive jump, the shuttle core might have set off a chain reaction.
“It could have crippled the starship,” Ludendorff said. They spoke in Cargo Hold Three. “In my opinion, the Spacers haven’t given up yet.”
“No,” Maddox said. “And I suspect the hidden androids haven’t either.”
“I’d wondered if you’ve forgotten about our friend Yen Cho because of our problems with the Spacers.”
“We will deal with Yen Cho after we jump,” Maddox said.
�
�It won’t be easy.”
“I agree,” the captain said. “Yet, I believe it will be critical if we’re going to call this a successful mission.”
***
Three light-years later, Maddox and Ludendorff met with Yen Cho.
The android had his own quarters in Marine territory. It was a Spartan cell, made even barer after Riker had gone over it, removing all potentially dangerous objects. The sergeant had left the android a cot and little else.
Yen Cho sat up in bed, using the covers to hide the fact of his missing legs.
Maddox idly wondered what motivated the android to do that. As he sat in a chair, the captain began to ponder the android in greater earnest. Yen Cho calmly returned his study. It was surprising. The captain had seen the android unscrew his hand. Now, seeing the hand rest on the covers, he couldn’t tell that it wasn’t flesh and bone.
“I noticed my door has been locked for some time,” Yen Cho said. “Do you fear me, Captain?”
“Before the captain answers that,” Ludendorff said. “I have a question for you.” The professor leaned against a dresser, as the Methuselah Man preferred to stand.
Yen Cho inclined his head to Ludendorff.
“That you know the door was locked,” the professor said, “means you checked it. That means you dragged yourself across the floor to do so.”
“That is a statement,” Yen Cho said. “It isn’t a question.”
“You did crawl across the floor?” Ludendorff asked.
“How would that be shameful?” Yen Cho asked.
“Who said that it was?”
“That is two questions.” The android turned to Maddox. “Do you still fear me, Captain? Even after all I’ve done for you?”
“Let’s assess this in detail,” Maddox said. “Two Major Stokes androids attempted to kill me before the mission. I’m thinking androids also manned the missile launch sites that tried to complete my assassination in Normandy. Later, aboard Victory, one team of androids kidnapped me. They even plotted my death once they panicked. Another team of androids tried to murder Shu. When I stopped them, they tried to kill me. So although I don’t fear you as such at present, I find it difficult to believe that you have my best interests at heart.”
The Lost Patrol Page 39
