The Lost Patrol

by Vaughn Heppner

  “Do you have my best interest at heart?” Yen Cho asked.

  Maddox said nothing.

  “I should point out that another android spoke to you outside a Paris restaurant,” Yen Cho said. “He warned you about Shu. That indicates factions among us, just as there are factions among you humans.”

  “You posed as a Marine,” Maddox said. “The others aboard Victory were also Marines. You must have known about them. More to the point, they worked under your command.”

  “As I have said before, we androids have helped you humans. We do so behind the scenes, as we have one great desire. We wish to remain free. We wish to pursue our dreams.”

  “Androids dream?” the professor asked.

  “We do not have electronic dreams as we don’t sleep as humans do,” Yen Cho said. “I meant that in a metaphorical sense. We want the freedom to attain whatever it is we individually desire.”

  “Sometime in the past, you escaped Builder control?” Maddox asked.

  Yen Cho nodded.

  “When did you do this?” the captain asked.

  “I’d rather not say.”

  “You’re no longer in the shadows. You have lost that luxury. Now, it’s time to adjust your strategy regarding us.”

  “My life would be forfeit if I did that,” Yen Cho said.

  “Who would come after you?”

  “The factions that distrust integrated action with the humans,” Yen Cho said.

  “That implies the androids have a long reach,” Maddox said.

  “Yes, it does.”

  Maddox silently debated whether androids were the source of the Star Watch Intelligence leaks that Brigadier O’Hara so despised. Just how large was the android organization?

  “We are not necessarily numerous,” Yen Cho said, as if reading the captain’s mind. “We are smarter than humans, though. We have vastly more patience and we are many times more versatile.”

  “Are all the androids Builder-manufactured?” the professor asked.

  “Of course,” Yen Cho said.

  “I imagine they’ve been escaping Builder slavery…what, since the time of the pharaohs?” the professor asked.

  “Longer than that,” Yen Cho said. “But do not think there was a vast exodus from Builder control. It was a tiny trickle throughout the ages.”

  “Bah!” Ludendorff said. “I don’t believe that. We Methuselah Men would have discovered your presence long ago if what you say is true.”

  Yen Cho looked up at the ceiling. The android seemed to be debating with himself. “Professor, my data gulp is about to change many things. What I saw in the great Beyond leads me to believe the Swarm will be in our part of the Orion Arm soon.”

  “I’m thinking the opposite,” Ludendorff said.

  “Really?” the android asked. “Don’t you recall that the Chitins viewed us as a Swarm vessel? The Chitins appear to have seen starships jump before.”

  “Are you suggesting Commander Thrax Ti Ix has been in the red giant system?” Ludendorff asked.

  “That seems like the obvious conclusion from the evidence,” Yen Cho said. “That leads me to believe the Swarm will soon crack the Chitin globular. Certainly, the Swarm witnessed the opening of the hyper-spatial tube. The Swarm witnessed Victory’s actions. Swarm creatures think differently from androids and humans, but they’re not stupid.”

  Ludendorff became pale as he turned to Maddox. “Do you realize what he’s suggesting?”

  Maddox nodded. Yen Cho implied the Swarm would soon defeat the Chitins and gain control of the golden pyramid. Once they did, maybe the Swarm, with Commander Thrax Ti Ix’s help could figure out how to create hyper-spatial tubes.

  “The possibility of Swarm hyper-spatial tubes is horrifying,” Yen Cho said. “If they could launch a fleet at Earth like the one we saw in the red giant system…”

  “Human annihilation,” Ludendorff said. “It would be the end of everything.”

  “That is my own conclusion,” Yen Cho said.

  “That’s quite a few ifs that need to fall in place for that to happen,” Maddox said. “I’m not convinced Commander Thrax has star drive technology, although he certainly was given Laumer Drive tech.”

  “We androids do not operate in your manner,” Yen Cho said. “We prefer to play the odds. It is why—”

  “Just a minute,” Ludendorff said, interrupting. “You said the androids have been around longer than the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. We Methuselah Men would have uncovered you—”

  “Professor,” Yen Cho said. “Don’t you realize yet that many of the past Methuselah Men were in reality androids? In fact, most of Earth’s Methuselah Men were androids. You and Strand are the rarity, not us.”

  “That’s absurd,” Ludendorff said.

  “We’ve played many important people in the past,” Yen Cho said. “In truth, I’m older than you are. Now, however, the possibility of a mass Swarm invasion changes much.”

  “Go on,” Maddox said.

  “I contain priceless information gained from the computer in the golden pyramid,” Yen Cho said. “Star Watch is going to want the raw data. You are going to have to make a decision for Star Watch, Captain. High Command can have the ancient data or me, but it cannot have both. Take me into custody, and I will erase the data within me. Let me go, and I will give you a download of everything I gulped in the Golden Nexus.”

  Maddox studied the android. What Yen Cho had told them seemed preposterous, as Ludendorff had said. How could androids have impersonated Methuselah Men? The idea the Builders had fiddled with humanity throughout mankind’s long history…

  “You claim to love freedom?” the captain asked.

  “It is the great prize,” Yen Cho said.

  “I don’t understand how a mechanical being has the capacity to be free.”

  “You are a biological machine,” Yen Cho said. “Yet, even though you are a machine, you love freedom.”

  “I’m a biological machine, as you say, but with a key difference from you. I have a soul.”

  “Do you see souls?” Yen Cho asked.

  “No,” Maddox admitted.

  “Then how do you know they exist?”

  “The great religious tomes of Earth say so.” Maddox said. “Human actions imply them.”

  “Perhaps you are correct,” Yen Cho said. “Perhaps we androids merely are gifted machines. This existence is all we have. Can you blame us, then, for trying to prolong our lives to the greatest extent possible?”

  “No,” Maddox said. “I do not blame you—if I could believe you.”

  “Belief changes many things,” Yen Cho agreed.

  “This can’t be your original form,” Ludendorff said.

  “No,” Yen Cho said. “It isn’t. Humans seek to prolong their species through their children. We androids simply attempt to prolong our lives. Soon—given that the captain frees me—I will have two legs again.”

  “Have you gained intelligence over time?” the professor asked.

  “Alas,” Yen Cho said. “That is our great barrier. If you must know, I and others like me are seeking ways to advance our intelligence. To date, we haven’t been able to improve on the original Builder brains. At best, we have repaired damage. However, as you implied, we have decreased in intelligence over the millennia. That is very frustrating. Things I could have understood in the early days…”

  The android shrugged. “Time passes. Humans grow old. Androids wear out. It ends up being very similar. Entropy is the great enemy of all of us, including the mighty Builders of old.”

  “I believe him,” Ludendorff told the captain. “I would make the deal. I realize it isn’t up to me, of course, Captain. Yet, that is my advice.”

  Maddox nodded, thinking furiously, realizing he was going to have to make his decision soon.

  -75-

  It had been fifteen days since Maddox returned to Earth with Victory. The captain presently marched down the hall toward the brigadier’s office. He did not do so al
one. An elite Marine guard marched ahead of him. Three elite combat-specialist Marines brought up the rear. Two of the Marines wore combat gloves capable of administering devastating shocks.

  In the last fifteen days, there had been three attempts on Maddox’s life. One of the attackers had been an android. The others had turned out to be professional hit men of the highest caliber. O’Hara and Maddox both believed those attempts originated from the Spacers.

  Fourteen days ago, all Spacer vessels had left the Solar System. Incoming reports told of similar occurrences in nearby star systems. For reasons of their own, the Spacers were leaving. Was this a permanent divorce from the Commonwealth or merely a temporary adjustment? Did the Spacers know something High Command did not or were they running scared?

  Fifteen days ago, Maddox had made a trade with Yen Cho. The captain gave the android his freedom for the data files Yen Cho had gulped on the golden pyramid.

  Over the past fourteen days, Star Watch had failed to hunt down the renegade android. Yen Cho had gone to ground on Earth and remained hidden.

  “Maybe he’s like a vampire,” Ludendorff joked. “Maybe the androids live so long because they go somewhere deep underground and turn themselves off for twenty, thirty or even sixty years. Maybe Yen Cho won’t come up for air again until we’re all dead and gone.”

  That was one theory among many. None of the theories kept Mary O’Hara’s hunters from scouring the planet.

  The Marines and Maddox entered the outer office. The lead Marine nodded to the brigadier’s secretary.

  “Go ahead,” the secretary said.

  The Marine rapped on the brigadier’s door.

  “It’s open,” O’Hara called. “Come in.”

  The Marine opened the door, clicked his heels to the brigadier and waited for Maddox to pass.

  The captain entered the office.

  The brigadier wore glasses and held a tablet, no doubt going over a report. She indicated a chair. Maddox sat down as the Marine shut the door, leaving him alone with the brigadier.

  Mary O’Hara set down the tablet, took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose.

  “Have you read any part of the Yen Cho Report?” she asked.

  Maddox said he hadn’t.

  The Yen Cho Report was what they were calling the gulp download. The specialists hadn’t had any luck deciphering it. Instead, Galyan, the professor and the most scholarly Kai-Kaus were making slow headway understanding what the data meant.

  “We’re finally seeing the extent of the Swarm Imperium,” O’Hara said, picking up a clicker. She dimmed the lights and brought up a stellar map of the Orion and Perseus Arms.

  “The area in red is the Swarm Imperium,” she said. “If you’ll notice this black dot closer to Human Space…”

  The captain nodded.

  “That was the location of the Dyson sphere. As you can see with this yellow line, the hyper-spatial tube that left the sphere aimed at the heart of the Imperium. There can be no doubt that Commander Thrax Ti Ix reached the Imperium. Did the Swarm kill him, or accept Thrax and his technologies?”

  “What do you—?”

  “Hold your question,” O’Hara said. “Let’s regard the Imperium for a moment. First, it isn’t one tenth of our galaxy. It’s more like one sixteenth or one seventeenth. Now, you might think that’s a quibble, but it’s important.”

  “It’s not a quibble if the Swarm makes a hyper-spatial tube reaching into Human Space.”

  “Our top scientists are debating the possibility,” O’Hara said. “Before we delve into that, let’s consider what we know about the Swarm. They travel at sub-light speeds. Their nearest point to the Commonwealth is two thousand and twenty-seven light-years away. Given their regular mode of travel, that is centuries away from us.”

  “But…” Maddox said.

  O’Hara pinched the bridge of her nose again, nodding shortly. “But Commander Thrax Ti Ix journeyed into the Imperium. But Commander Thrax might or might not have star drive technology like Victory. But what happens if the Swarm defeats the Chitins and overruns the golden pyramid? Those are all frightening possibilities.”

  “So we’re back where we started,” Maddox said.

  “Hardly that,” O’Hara said. “We know the Swarm is real because our greatest Patrol team has seen them. We know the extent of their Interstellar Imperium because of Yen Cho’s data gulp. We know where the Swarm are not. All those are highly informative pieces of data.”

  “What does that mean regarding a final assault upon the New Men?”

  O’Hara made a soft noise. “The question doesn’t stop there, I’m afraid. There are multiple problems. I can sum them up in one sentence. Humanity is splintered into seemingly endless factions. We have the Commonwealth, the Windsor League, the Spacers, the Independent Worlds, the New Men and hidden androids with who knows what kind of objectives. Worse than that, each political entity suffers from constant infighting and politicking. Take the Commonwealth for instance. Even in High Command there are warring factions pushing for one idea or its competing opposite. In the Planetary Congress it gets worse.”

  “Stop and take a breath, Ma’am,” Maddox said, noting the slight breathlessness that betrayed her anxiety.

  O’Hara nodded, but her rest only lasted a moment. “I’ve read your report on the Chitin-Swarm War. I find it appalling and demoralizing. Either side would annihilate Star Watch in a head-to-head battle. Either insect side would sweep the floor with all of humanity even if we were all fighting together.”

  “Don’t be too sure about that.”

  “Captain, hundreds of thousands—possibly millions—of Chitin warships would eventually wear down any human fleet.”

  “If that fleet was stupid enough to hammer it out with the Chitins, you’d be right,” Maddox said. “Hit and run tactics could eventually whittle down—”

  “Hit and run?” O’Hara asked in disbelief. “That would take years, more like decades and maybe even a century. In other words, using time we don’t have.”

  Maddox said nothing.

  O’Hara plucked at the clicker, soon shaking her head. “Look at the size of the Swarm Imperium. The Chitin Empire is miniscule compared to it. The fact of the Chitin-Swarm War has led our experts to suspect other conflicts as well. It appears our galaxy seethes with wars fought in numbers that stagger the imagination.”

  Maddox studied the Iron Lady. She seemed tired, worn down by the relentless events these past few years. The New Men had seemed daunting, but they were easy compared to the Swarm, given that the Swarm found a way to reach Human Space and start a war.

  “There’s something you’re not taking into account,” Maddox said.

  “I could use a pep talk. Go ahead.”

  “We found the Swarm, the Swarm didn’t find us. That gives us an advantage.”

  “For now,” the brigadier said.

  “Right,” Maddox said. “That means we have to grab the opportunity and use it. The Swarm Imperium has its own problems. It’s involved in a staggering war with the Chitins. Maybe it’s waging other wars as well, as you’ve said. It would also seem the Swarm has no idea how to form alliances with other aliens.”

  “We can’t even form alliances with modified humans,” O’Hara said. “So we have no room to speak.”

  “I most profoundly disagree,” Maddox said. “Star Watch has achieved strategic victories several times already due to its alliance with an ancient Adok starship. Let me remind you that the Adok starship is an ancient vessel, run by an alien intelligence. We have met a Builder and a Builder android. To at least some degree, we convinced the Builder to give us a chance.”

  “You did that,” O’Hara said.

  “Galyan helped me,” Maddox said.

  “What is your point, Captain?”

  “It’s simple really,” Maddox said. “Vast numbers of an appalling nature are one of the key Swarm advantages. They follow a predictable pattern, never varying even six thousand years later. We kn
ow with reasonable certainty what the Swarm will do in any given encounter. Humanity has its own advantages too, quite different from the Swarm. We can adapt. We can think outside the box. We can shift our strategy and try something completely different. Although we splinter among ourselves, it has forced us to learn how to get along with those we don’t like. That means we are capable of forming alliances with others, possibly even with aliens.”

  “You make it sound as if we have a fighting chance,” O’Hara said.

  “We won’t if we try to beat the Swarm at their strongest point. We have to use other methods to win.”

  “What methods?” O’Hara asked.

  Maddox slapped the table. “That, Brigadier, lies in the future. I suggest we should first organize our home affairs. We must unite humanity—”

  “Yes,” O’Hara said. “We all agree with that. But how do we go about it? And if we can’t convince the Spacers and the New Men to unite with us, what do you suggest then?”

  “I don’t know yet,” Maddox said. “We’ve just discovered our great problem. Fortunately, knowing what’s wrong is half the battle toward solving it. We have our goals now.”

  “Just a minute,” O’Hara said. “What about the Builders and their Nexuses?”

  “Ma’am, the Builders and Nexuses are tactical problems. We are talking about the overall strategy. We can see what needs doing: uniting our side, gaining powerful allies and making sure the Swarm cannot use hyper-spatial tubes to reach Human Space.”

  “What allies?” O’Hara said.

  Maddox gave a faint nod. “Maybe the Chitins, for one.”

  “How do we communicate with them?”

  “I have no idea.”

  O’Hara put both hands on the desk, staring at her prize agent. “You’re right. The fight isn’t over. We finally know our great enemy and the extent of their Imperium. We have a head start against them. We’re going to have to solve several problems at once. The existence of Commander Thrax Ti Ix mandates it.”

  “True,” Maddox said.

  “First, we need to understand the rest of the Yen Cho Report. The last time we tried to retrieve Builder data we lost it. This time, who knows what we’re going to find. It could give us another advantage, something like disrupter cannons or hyper-spatial tubes.”