“There are more starships present,” Galyan said.
“Put them on the screen,” Maddox said.
Two more faint images appeared on the main screen. The three were equally spaced, almost covering the breadth of this side of the star.
“Have you determined their exact type?” Maddox asked.
“Affirmative,” Galyan said. “They are regular Spacer vessels.”
“Cloaked, I presume,” Maddox said.
“I am using my advanced Adok methods to pierce their cloaking.”
“Have they spotted us yet?”
“I believe so, sir.”
“Here’s the big one,” Maddox said. “Are they waiting for us?”
“I am straining to scan near and around the star,” Galyan said. “By the pitch of your voice, you seem to already suspect what I do.”
“The Visionary is here?” asked Maddox.
“Affirmative, sir,” Galyan said.
“Should we hail them?” Valerie asked.
Maddox glanced at the lieutenant with the hint of a frown. He did not like his crew second-guessing him. The lieutenant should know that by now.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Valerie said.
After a moment’s hesitation, Maddox waved that aside as if it didn’t matter. He did it for her morale. He didn’t like doing it, but the crew had become increasingly tense the longer they traveled.
“Do not hail them yet,” Maddox said. “Let’s see what they do.”
“I have detected signals, sir,” Galyan said. “The last ship to our right has sent a signal. I suggest it is to another starship we cannot see that is also positioned near the star.”
“May I ask a question?” Valerie asked.
Maddox suspected he already knew what she wanted to know. He said, “I want to see who shows up before we hail anyone.”
“Oh,” she said. “Thank you, sir.”
Maddox nodded.
“It is my turn to query you,” Galyan said.
“I don’t know,” Maddox told the AI.
“You don’t know if I can ask you?” Galyan asked.
“No,” Maddox said. “I don’t know how the Visionary knew we would come to this system.”
“How did you guess my question, sir?”
“Pure genius on my part,” Maddox said.
“That is a Ludendorff-style response, sir. It is not your typical Maddox response.”
“Sometimes it pays to try another person’s style,” Maddox said. “Maybe it’s effective.”
“Are you suggesting I attempt Ludendorff-style answers?”
“No,” Maddox said.
“That is a relief, sir,” Galyan said. “According to my studies, humans react more positively to humble speech. They resist arrogant or boastful talk.”
“Are you continuing to scan, Galyan?”
“Affirmative, sir.”
As Maddox watched the screen, more faint images of starships came around the star.
“Galyan, I want high-intensity scans to our sides and rear,” Maddox said. “For this to work, the Spacers need someone trying to dampen our star drive so we can’t escape.”
“I am scanning—sir,” Galyan said. “There are three odd vessels moving in behind us.”
“Switch main screen view,” Maddox said.
The star and the faint images vanished. In their place were faint flatter saucer-shaped vessels. They seemed to glide toward them.
“Are they emitting any rays at us?” Maddox asked.
“Affirmative, sir,” Galyan said. “As you foresaw, they are beaming dampening rays. I do not think we can use the star drive until they desist.”
“Target the nearest inhibiting ship,” Maddox said. “Power up the disrupter and neutron cannons.”
“Sir,” Valerie said. “The Spacers are hailing us. Sir,” she said, with surprise. “The Visionary wishes to speak to you.”
“Put her on,” Maddox said. “But before you do—Galyan, the minute the disruptor cannon is ready, begin destroying the inhibiting vessels coming in cloaked behind us.”
“Affirmative,” Galyan said.
Maddox nodded to Valerie.
A second later, the Visionary appeared on one side of a split-screen in her usual polar bear robe, goggles and other paraphernalia.
“Greetings, Captain,” she said in her hoarse voice. “I suppose you are surprised to meet us here.”
“Yes and no,” Maddox said.
“Let me get to the point,” the Visionary said. “Since we last met, I have gathered reinforcements. I now want to aid the Alliance Fleet and stop the Swarm invasion.”
“Really?”
“I have taken the liberty—”
The Visionary stopped talking as the disrupter cannon fired. The beam reached across the void, striking the flat saucer-shaped cloaked vessel behind Victory. The beam burned against the shield, causing a quick collapse. Seconds later, the disrupter beam began to chew through the alloy hull.
“What are you doing?” the Visionary shouted. “We come in peace.”
Maddox waited until the disruptor beam caused the inhibitor vessel to explode spectacularly.
“Target the next one, Galyan,” Maddox said.
“At once, sir,” the holoimage said.
“Are you attempting to sabotage us?” the Visionary asked in a demanding tone. “We have come in peace.”
“Do peaceful vessels beam dampener rays on another ship’s jump drive?” Maddox asked.
The Visionary only hesitated a second. “I wanted to speak to you,” she said. “They’re only to make sure you heard my message.”
The disruptor and neutron cannons fired at the second inhibitor vessel. This one blew up faster than the last one.
“This is an outrage,” the Visionary shouted. “You are deliberately sabotaging a Spacer-Commonwealth union.”
“You seem to think I’m an idiot,” Maddox said. “You think I’ll fall for the easiest lies. I don’t think so, Visionary. Remember, you yourself named me di-far.”
“I am sorry to interrupt, sir,” Galyan said. “But what do you want me to do with the last inhibitor vessel?”
“Destroy it at once,” Maddox said.
“You are killing Spacers, Captain,” the Visionary said.
“That is true,” Maddox said.
“You’re a butcher, a murderer.”
“A patriot of the human race,” Maddox said.
“The last vessel is no longer aiming dampening rays at you,” the Visionary said.
“Thank you,” Maddox said.
“You must let it survive.”
“Sir?” asked Galyan.
Maddox stared at the Visionary’s goggles as he said, “Destroy it at once, Galyan.”
“No!” the Visionary shouted. “My son is on that ship.”
Maddox’s face became even calmer than before. “I take no delight in his death, Visionary. But you have pitted yourself against me. You believe I’m a dupe. Next time, maybe you won’t put Spacers in harm’s way.”
“Next time, you die,” she hissed. “I will hound you until the end of time. You can flee to the other end of the galaxy, but I will kill you, Captain Maddox.”
The twin cannons burned hot against the last inhibitor vessel. Like the others, it exploded in a savage blast.
By this point, twenty-eight Spacer vessels had swung around the star. More kept coming. Each of them strained as they accelerated at Victory.
Maddox stared at the Spacer witch on the screen. He stood. He gave a faint head bow and turned to Keith. “Take us out of here, Mr. Maker.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Keith said.
Seconds later, Victory jumped again, heading out of the trap the Visionary had set for it.
-40-
The next few jumps were tense. Each time the starship arrived at the next destination, Galyan, Valerie or the warrant officer scanned intently.
There were arguments regarding the source of the Visionary’s ability. Ludendorff
believed the old woman had access to something like the Builder Scanner Star Watch now possessed.
“Maybe it’s simpler than that,” Maddox replied. “Maybe Star Watch routinely checks on our progress with the new scanner. They see where we’re headed, and a Spacer spy using a Builder communicator informs the Visionary. What could be easier?”
“Brigadier O’Hara has surely flushed out all the spies by now,” Meta said.
The three of them sat in the dim lounge.
“I doubt it,” Maddox said. “Certainly O’Hara has rid Earth of many enemy spies, but not all.”
“What other kind are there except enemy spies?” Ludendorff asked.
Maddox fell silent.
Soon, Ludendorff got up and took his leave.
Meta put a hand on Maddox’s hand. “You shouldn’t let him get you angry.”
“I know,” Maddox said. “But I dislike people interrupting me.”
“He didn’t,” Meta said. “But you interrupt others all the time.”
“Only when necessary.”
“That’s not always the case.”
Maddox shrugged. “This voyage is different from the others. There’s more at stake. We’re also bouncing around more, and staying out longer. Stress is building.”
“Because we have a nearly impossible assignment,” Meta said.
Maddox stared out of a viewing port at the passing stars. “I don’t want to return to the null region. It was so strange last time. Being in the dark, being alone except for Galyan, making that fantastic jump to the Sind System—”
Meta’s grip tightened on his hand.
“There’s more going on than I understand,” Maddox said. “There seems to be a hidden player. Is a Builder behind this?”
“Why doesn’t he come out and say so?”
Maddox shook his head. “I have no idea. This Ska…it’s terrifying. I’m not used to that kind of…problem.”
“We’ve faced plenty of terrifying problems in the past.”
“Desperate problems,” Maddox said. “Not ones that could sear a man’s soul.”
“You’re a strange man, Maddox. You seem so practical and often so rational. Yet, you worry about cosmic issues.”
“Issues of the soul,” Maddox said.
“Who would have ever taken Captain Maddox as a metaphysical person?”
“It’s far from that,” Maddox said. “I’m religious in nature, as I know there is more than I can see and feel. I want to know more, and why, and how, and—”
Meta got up, moving closer to him. “You know what I wonder?”
Maddox shook his head.
Meta climbed up into his chair, straddling his lap. “I want to know what you taste like.” Meta grabbed his face and kissed him passionately.
Maddox laughed. He grasped Meta around her bottom and lurched up to his feet.
“What are you doing?” she giggled.
Maddox shifted her so he carried her in his arms. “I’m taking you to my quarters. Do you have any objections?”
“I do,” she said.
“That’s too bad,” he said. “For you.” Maddox continued striding to his quarters, still carrying Meta in his arms. She snuggled against him, loving it.
***
Finally, the starship reached the Ezwal System with its white dwarf star. The star was a little bigger than the Earth but had the mass of Earth’s Sun. The star was extremely dense, composed of electron-degenerate matter. It no longer generated heat through fusion, but radiated away its stored thermal energy.
The system lacked planets, but possessed a black hole. Near the black hole was a Laumer Point. This one led through an Einstein-Rosen bridge three hundred and eighty-four light-years long.
As per the last few jumps, Galyan scanned relentlessly for signs of cloaked Spacer ships.
“The system seems clear,” Galyan said.
“Let us proceed, Mr. Maker,” Maddox said.
Victory headed for the black hole. Soon enough, the heavy gravitational force tried to pull them into the event horizon. The ancient Adok starship used its antimatter engines to aim for the ER bridge entrance. It was a struggle, but finally, Victory entered the bridge—and came out on the other side, three hundred and eighty light-years away. The new system had a cool blue star and five terrestrial planets. There were no gas giants. There were no Juggernauts waiting, either.
“Start scanning, Galyan,” Maddox said.
The AI made its most thorough scan yet. “Nothing to report, sir.”
“Look for any anomaly you can find. Report the slightest deviation.”
“You want me to find the null region, sir?”
“If you can, Galyan, if you can.”
After two hours of relentless scanning, Maddox let Galyan stop. There was no evidence of a null region or a way to enter a null region.
Maddox called a briefing.
Ludendorff, Dana and Andros Crank had come up with a possibility for functioning while in the null region. It was a photon energy suit.
“It took some doing,” the professor said, growing expansive. “I doubt I could have accomplished the feat without Andros’s exceedingly practical turn of mind. He is the master artificer, par excellence.”
Andros blushed and stared down at his hands, folded together on the conference table.
“In any case,” Ludendorff continued. “The suits might allow the wearer a greater length of time against the null region’s power drain. Unfortunately, constructing the suits has proven difficult. There are four of them so far.” The professor turned to Maddox. “You will have to decide who should wear the photon suits.”
Maddox nodded.
“The Ska is another matter,” the professor said. “Doctor, if you would care to explain?”
Dana smiled wryly. “We didn’t have as great a breakthrough against the Ska. Instead, we have a way, we hope, that works around the problem. Maybe that’s why the professor is letting me explain it.”
“Nonsense,” Ludendorff said under his breath.
“Our problem was clear,” Dana said. “How can we keep the Ska from terrifying said people and/or controlling them? We thought at first that wearing headphones, listening to music, could help. The person would listen to the music instead of the Ska. In time, we refined the process. Why bother with music? The wearer could turn it off if the Ska got to him. The direction of the idea was correct, though.”
Dana scanned the others. “We have produced a drug, a happy pill, if you will. The drug will induce euphoria, which should counteract whatever the Ska does to terrify. Here is where we’re making a guess. We think the Ska uses the terrifying process to control the person. But, if the person cannot be terrified, theoretically, the Ska cannot control him.”
“Will the happy pill negatively influence a person’s judgment?” Maddox asked.
“Yes,” Dana said.
“It’s a tradeoff,” Ludendorff said.
Dana gestured toward the professor. “Under the circumstances, that’s the best we can do.”
Maddox turned to Ludendorff. “Do you think four people can power up the Destroyer and pilot it out of the null region?”
Ludendorff shook his head. “You’ll have to drag it out with Victory’s tractor beam.”
“Drag a fifty-kilometer-long vessel with our comparatively tiny ship?” Maddox asked.
“Once we’re out of the null region, we can scour the Destroyer and clean it out if we have to,” Ludendorff said.”
“None of this is acting swiftly,” the captain said. “Remember? That’s how we’re supposed to counteract the Ska, right?”
“We realize that,” the professor said, “but this is the best we’ve been able to achieve.”
Maddox drummed his fingers on the table. “It might take two trips to drag out two Destroyers.”
“That is a distinct possibility,” Ludendorff said.
“We will, of course, have pulled out the Ska by that time,” Maddox said.
“We ha
ve a theory regarding the null region and the Ska,” Ludendorff said. “The theory isn’t by any means certain, but the possibility exists.” Ludendorff took a deep breath. “Maybe the bright light you saw before wasn’t an exit for the Ska. Maybe the Builders created the exit so only they—or any material being—could come into and leave the null region.”
“That’s illogical,” Maddox said. “The ego-fragment made it out of the null region.”
“The ego-fragment is what gave us the first clue,” Ludendorff said. “According to Riker’s memories of the Ska, the entity burned away most of its essence trying to leave.”
“It didn’t have a bright exit at that time,” Maddox said.
“I have come to believe there was a residue exit, so to speak, a ‘shadow’ of the bright exit.”
Maddox appeared perplexed.
“It is a complex theory, to be sure,” Ludendorff said. “Yet, there is reason for believing this.”
“I’m dubious,” Maddox said.
“And I as well,” Galyan added.
“Nevertheless,” Ludendorff said, “that is my belief.”
Silence filled the room.
Maddox stirred. “You still haven’t told us how we can induce or create the bright exit.”
“I have no idea how to do that,” Ludendorff said. “But again, I believe the bright light was a Builder-constructed… I suppose ‘reflex’ is the best word I can use to describe what I’m thinking. I believe the bright exit appears immediately after, or shortly after, one enters the null region.”
“Why?” asked Maddox.
“A built-in fail-safe for a Builder researcher,” Ludendorff said.
Maddox studied the professor. “Why do I get the feeling you’re hiding some of what you know?”
Ludendorff shrugged—it seemed a trifle uneasily.
“Am I wrong?” Maddox asked.
“Yes,” Ludendorff said a little too quickly.
Maddox drummed his fingers on the table. He looked around. “Are there any more questions?”
No one spoke.
“Lieutenant Noonan,” Maddox said. “What object do we aim our tractor beam at in order to build up…power for a null-space jump?”
“The moon of the second planet will do,” Valerie said. “Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait eight days until it’s near enough to the correct location.”
The Lost Earth (Lost Starship Series Book 7) Page 16
