The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3) (14 page)

“The disruptor isn’t ready yet for a second shot, sir,” Valerie said. “It’s recycling. But our shield is back online.”

“I should be down there with Galyan,” Ludendorff muttered.

“The drone is building up power,” Valerie said, as she studied her board.

A red beam lashed out from the missile’s nosecone. It burned against
Victory’s
hastily raised shield. The starship’s deflectors held, although an area turned pink and then red where the beam hit. The region slowly expanded as the shield attempted to bleed off the intense wattage.

“Sir,” Valerie said in amazement. “This is incredible. The beam is exactly like what the New Men use in their star cruisers.”

Maddox glanced at Ludendorff. The professor pretended not to notice.

“The disruptor cannon is ready, sir,” Valerie said.

“Fire,” Maddox said.

Once more, a harsh whine built up within the starship. Then, the disruptor glob sped at the automated drone. For a second time, the enemy shield darkened, this time to black.

“Hit it with the neutron beam,” Maddox said.

Before Valerie could respond, the enemy shield collapsed. The remainder of the disruptor glob reached the missile’s hull. It devoured the silver substance, as acid would paper. The red beam quit firing at
Victory
. A second later, a nova-white explosion caused Maddox to throw his hands before his eyes. The bridge became too bright as the dampeners failed to shield them sufficiently. Then, the brightness dimmed and finally vanished.

“The drone is gone,” Valerie declared. “We did it.”

“Interesting,” Ludendorff said, as he leaned forward to study space.

“The beam is especially interesting,” Maddox said. “What do you think, Professor? What does it mean that the New Men use exactly the same sort of beam as the Builder drone did?”

“Hmm…” Ludendorff said in a pondering way. “I imagine it means that the ray bypassed any Earth vessel shield that came to this system. If we had been in any other Star Watch ship, we would all be dead now.”

“My thoughts have moved in a different direction,” Maddox said. “Can we have found the genesis to the New Men’s advanced technology?”

“That’s a reasonable assumption at first glance,” Ludendorff said. “The danger in accepting it, however—”

“I accept it as fact,” Maddox said, interrupting. “The New Men use the Nexus. They have activated the planet-killer, and they have the same beams as the silver drone. There can be no doubt; our enemy uses alien technology, Builder technology, if you prefer. We have discovered a critical answer regarding our foe.”

“Hmm…” Ludendorff said, as if unconvinced.

“I have begun to wonder about something else,” Maddox said. “You wished us to jump away from the silver drone. Perhaps you already knew about the beam and didn’t want us to discover that.”

“
Know
is too strong of a word,” Ludendorff said. “I had begun to suspect, though.”

“More lies, Professor?”

“I am unused to having these kinds of allegations thrown at me,” Ludendorff said. “Despite their uniqueness, I don’t enjoy them, either. Thus, you will desist in making them.”

Maddox eyed the stars outside. Months ago, Ludendorff had helped fix the disruptor cannon, which had been instrumental in defeating Oran Rva’s star cruisers and had freed Fletcher’s fleet. The New Men had hunted for the professor on Wolf Prime, intending to capture him. Maddox didn’t like Ludendorff’s methods, nor did he approve of some of the professor’s personnel. But it was important to remember the man seemed to be on their side.

Ludendorff is vain. I must use that, but I mustn’t forget he has deep resources. Instead of working to defeat him, I might better resolve to remain free and keep Meta away from Villars
.

“Lieutenant,” Maddox said. “Do your sensors indicate more drones?”

Valerie bent over her equipment, manipulating the board from time to time. Finally, she straightened and regarded Maddox.

“No, sir, there’s nothing else. But I should point out that any number of drones could be hiding behind various asteroids. Advancing through the meteor field could be dangerous.”

“Right,” Maddox said. “Enlarge your sensor sweeps. It’s time we located the Nexus.”

“Meta knows the Nexus’s coordinates,” Ludendorff said.

“We don’t know if that’s true,” Maddox said. “The teacher may have eliminated the memory from her mind.”

Ludendorff stroked his chin.

“I found something,” Valerie said. “It’s massive, approximately two hundred thousand kilometers away and it’s definitely within the asteroid belt.”

“Could it be the Nexus?” Maddox asked the professor.

“I don’t know what else it could be,” Ludendorff said.

“Do you still wish to study it from close range?”

“I believe doing so is critical to our cause.”

“Then I suggest you and I use the shuttle to reach it.”

“Why not use
Victory
?” Ludendorff asked.

Maddox explained his reasoning of using Kane’s actions as their guide. The spy had used a space-cycle, keeping his scout some distance from the Nexus.

“Yes…” the professor said. “Your suggestion makes sense. The Builders…” Ludendorff turned away, tapping his left thigh with the flat device. “We must take Meta with us, of course. Galyan will watch the rest of your crew, and Villars will stay locked in his room. If Dana attempts another mutiny, the AI will know what to do.”

“Fine,” the captain said. “But why do we need Meta along?”

“Isn’t it obvious why?” the professor asked.

Maddox considered the question. “Yes, I suppose it is. When do we leave?”

“Now,” the professor said, as he stood. “We have to do this before more Builder drones show up.”

-14-

Maddox piloted the shuttle, lifting off the hangar bay deck. Beside him, Meta tested the relays to the warfare pod on the undercarriage and the autocannons on the stubby wings.

With easy skill, Maddox drifted toward the hangar bay doors. They slowly opened. Stars shined beyond with a large asteroid sitting nearby in space.

The professor stepped through the hatch between compartments. He moved like a penguin in his vacc-suit, with a helmet under the crook of his arm.

“Expecting trouble?” Maddox asked.

“You don’t live as long as I have without taking precautions,” Ludendorff said.

“Is it considered bad manners to ask how long you’ve lived?” Maddox asked.

“You must leave off your curiosity in my direction, Captain. We’re not playing a game of checkers, are we? There are more Builder drones prowling the asteroid field. We must engage all our energies outward and make sure to avoid them.”

“I doubt that’s the case,” Maddox said. “I mean there being more Builder drones nearby.”

The professor sat down at communications and sensors. He set his helmet on a panel and activated the shuttle’s passive sensing systems.

As the shuttle eased outside of
Victory
, Maddox glanced at the massive starship. He didn’t like leaving the safety of the Adok vessel in the strange Builder asteroid field. But it was better that he risk his person than Star Watch’s most important vessel.

Ludendorff tore his gaze from the sensor board, giving Maddox a quizzical study.

“Is something wrong?” the captain asked.

“Your certainty regarding the lack of more Builder drones,” the professor said. “I would like to know what prompts such an opinion.”

“You do.”

Ludendorff shook his head. “I don’t believe I’ve said anything else on the topic but for my warning.”

“Not verbally, no,” Maddox said, as he pressed a control on the piloting board. The engine purred and thrust propelled the shuttle faster. Maddox watched his panel, adjusting for an asteroid dead ahead. There were hundreds of thousands of space rocks out here.

“Well?” the professor asked.

Maddox glanced at Meta before regarding the professor. “It’s a simple deduction. You wouldn’t risk yourself on a shuttle if you believed more Builder drones waited to pounce on us. Rather, you would have sent us ahead as a decoy, while staying on
Victory
.”

“Do you truly have that low of an opinion of me?”

“One doesn’t get to be as old as you without practicing devious caution at every turn,” Maddox said.

“What do you call my participation in the Battle of the Tannish System?” the professor asked.

“An anomaly,” Maddox said, “for which I’m grateful, don’t doubt that for a moment.”

Ludendorff showed his teeth in a wolfish grin. “I like you, Captain. It’s too bad you’re a falling star. Your kind blazes hot for a time, making a spectacle. Everyone ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ at you, and then you wink out, having burned to a cinder in your brief flight through life.”

“I have news for you, Professor. No one makes it out of this life alive.”

“Is that any reason to hasten the process?”

“I suppose not,” Maddox said.

“Then I congratulate you,” Ludendorff said.

“For what?”

“For making my point. But just to be clear, I don’t know whether more Builder drones are prowling these parts. I’m taking a risk for the good of humanity. We must stop the planet-killer. That is paramount.”

“You may not be certain concerning the drones,” Maddox said, “but I’m betting the odds of more of them appearing suddenly have lowered since we saw the one, haven’t they?”

“According to my calculations, that’s true. But I have old data.”

“How old?” Maddox asked.

“The better term might be to say I have
antique
data. The New Men know more about the Nexus than I do.”

Meta’s board made a warning sound. The two men fell silent, glancing at her.

“Sorry,” she said. “I just triggered the auto-sequencing.”

“You found something?” Ludendorff asked, his voice worried.

“No, no,” Meta said. “The pod locked onto an asteroid. It’s nothing.”

“It locked on because of a high metal concentration?” the professor asked.

Meta checked her panel, nodding after a moment.

“We must investigate this,” Ludendorff said, his voice tinged with excitement.

“Care to tell us why?” Maddox asked.

“I doubt the weapons pod would react to a high concentration of ore in an asteroid,” the professor said. “Therefore, the concentration implies a device or ship on the asteroid, which in turn has a high probability of being a Builder artifact.”

“And that’s important?”

The professor studied his sensor board. “I’ve located the asteroid. It’s ten thousand kilometers away. Veer for it, would you, Captain?”

“Isn’t the Nexus paramount?” Maddox asked.

“We should examine this first,” the professor said.

Maddox nodded slowly. He didn’t like this turn of events. If this was a life-or-death quest for human survival, why did it feel as if the professor thought it was a treasure hunt?

Maddox adjusted the flight path. He kept
Victory
in visual range, training a teleoptic device on the starship. Valerie and he had agreed beforehand to keep communications between them at a minimum. It was possible that Builder drones could home in on a comm-signal.

The shuttle passed a smaller asteroid, this one ten kilometers in diameter. The object lacked any craters or other space impact marks. That was odd.

“Does that asteroid have any dust?” Maddox asked.

“Eh?” Ludendorff asked. “What’s that?”

“The asteroid outside, the one we’re passing, does it have any surface dust?”

The professor shrugged.

Meta used the warfare pod’s targeting device to scan the asteroid. “No dust, Captain,” she said.

Given the professor’s reaction concerning the metal on an asteroid, Maddox had a hunch. “What’s the asteroid’s composition?”

“Don’t use any active sensors,” Ludendorff warned.

“So what’s the asteroid made of?” Maddox asked the professor. “What do your passive sensors say?”

Ludendorff hesitated before saying, “The asteroid is composed of granite and basalt rock.”

“There are no metals on or in the asteroid?”

The professor sighed. “No, Captain. That’s how I knew the metal Meta detected a few minutes was something other than asteroidal ore. None of these rocks has any metallic ores or minerals.”

“Why didn’t you simply tell us from the beginning? Why try to hide everything?”

“Habit, I suppose,” Ludendorff said.

Maddox thought about that as he piloted the shuttle to the asteroid with metal. Earlier, Dana had admitted Ludendorff was a Methuselah Man. The common attribute each of the Methuselah People possessed was a calcification of character. Ludendorff was highly secretive. Maybe the professor could no longer help himself in that regard.

For a time, no one spoke. The stars blazed in the background as the shuttle passed various meteors and boulders. Behind them, the starship continued to dwindle in size. Maddox wondered on the extent of the asteroid belt. How much energy had the Builders expended to construct such a field. Why had they gone to such lengths to do it? Who were the Builders? Did the New Men really use Builder technology? If so, did the tech trump everything else?

Maddox was inclined to believe otherwise. In the Battle of the Tannish System, Adok technology had defeated Builder tech, given the New Men used it.

“Look,” Meta said, pointing out the window. “There it is.”

Maddox stared where she pointed. The targeted asteroid was much larger than the others were. “Do we have any specs on it?” he asked.

“Diameter, fifty kilometers,” the professor said.

“Do you see the metal yet?”

“Negative,” Ludendorff said.

“No,” Meta added, as she studied her weapons pod scanner.

“Ah, this is interesting,” the professor said, watching his board. “The asteroid is spinning on its axis.”

Maddox’s hackles rose. “Meta, have you seen any other spinning asteroids?”

“I have not,” she said.

“What are you implying?” the professor asked.

“That’s not half as important as what you’re not telling us,” Maddox said. “Why is the asteroid spinning, and why aren’t any of the others doing that?”

“I have no idea,” Ludendorff said.

“Professor, please, you must have
some
idea.”

“Well…maybe a small thought,” Ludendorff admitted.

Maddox waited to hear it.

Ludendorff appeared as if he wanted to stall. Finally, he grunted softly, saying, “I think the asteroid was the launch point for the drone we destroyed.”

That seemed highly significant to Maddox. “Are there more drones inside?”

“That’s a good question,” the professor said. “I don’t think so.”

“But you don’t know for certain?”

“Not for certain,” Ludendorff agreed. “Yet, as you suggested earlier, I wouldn’t have boarded the shuttle if I believed we were going to run into another Builder drone.”

Maddox maneuvered closer until the rotation became visible to the naked eye. At that point, the professor projected the sensor data onto the flight screen. Every rotation showed a metal circular area, the exit to a Builder launch tube, as the professor named it. The door was closed, and no extraneous junk lay on the asteroid’s surface.

“Do you still think we should land?” Maddox asked.

The professor studied a still-shot of the portal. The curved lines in the door made it seem the Builder hatch would dilate open.

“Match velocities with the asteroid,” Ludendorff said.

“You haven’t answered my question,” Maddox said. “Do you want to land?”

“I want a better view of the portal before I decide.”

“Professor, maybe it’s time we chose our goal for this flight. Treasure hunting seems like a waste of effort and resources. We have to reach the Nexus.” Maddox frowned. “Well, I don’t even know why that’s important. We’ve reached the asteroid field. You said the planet-killer used to be here. What exactly are you looking for? Another key to the doomsday device?”

“What you call treasure hunting, I call searching for clues.” Ludendorff paused, as if he’d said too much. “It is imperative we land.”

“Because…?” Maddox asked.

“This might give us a clue to the planet-killer,” Ludendorff said.

Maddox studied the professor, finally turning to his board. He eased them closer and began to circle the rocky object as it rotated. The captain circled the rock faster and faster until the smooth surface looked as if it was standing still below them.

“We can’t walk on the surface,” Meta said. “I’ve checked the asteroid’s mass. It’s infinitesimal compared to the rotation. If we attempt to walk on the surface, we’ll fly off into space.”

“I have no intention of walking on the surface,” the professor said. “I want you to ease down until you’re over the portal. We’ll broaden the shuttle’s gravity dampener to include the portal. Then, we can go down and examine the opening from an underbelly access hatch.”

“Sounds tricky,” Maddox said. “I’d want Keith piloting and Dana along for insurance before we attempted that.”

“Fortunately,” the professor said, “you have the best of both worlds in me. I know what to do.” The man stood. “If you please, Captain.”

Maddox allowed the professor to take his place in the pilot’s seat.

Ludendorff lowered the craft with consummate skill. Gently, the shuttle bumped against the surface, with the portal directly underneath the small vehicle.

The professor looked up. His eyes shined, and a weird smile stretched his lips. “Finally,” he breathed, “after all this time.” He rubbed his gloved hands together.

Abruptly, Ludendorff stood, heading for the hatch in his awkward penguin shuffle. “Leave the controls. I’ve set them.”

Maddox glanced at Meta.

“You’d better follow him,” she whispered. “If he’s going to find treasure, maybe you should grab our share.”

“Right,” Maddox said, heading for the locker room.

The professor climbed down a ladder as Maddox rushed past him. The captain raced to the locker area, flinging open an access panel. As quickly as possible, Maddox donned a vacc-suit. His stomach tightened. Trying to rush this could lead to a deadly mistake later. He slowed down even though he didn’t want to. What was the professor’s problem?

Finally, Maddox screwed a bubble helmet into place. He lumbered out of the locker room, reached the ladder and climbed down. Soon, he reached the air cycler. The professor had already gone ahead of him.

Maddox chinned on his short-way radio. “Professor,” he said.