The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3) (15 page)

There was no answer.

Entering the air cycler, Maddox pressed a button. The section rotated as air hissed out. In seconds, the cycler
clicked
into its new setting. Maddox exited, moving down a short corridor. The professor crouched over an open hatch in vacuum.

Maddox joined him, looking down at the Builder portal embedded in the asteroid several meters below.

“Professor,” Maddox radioed.

Ludendorff looked up at him. The man’s eyes shined even more weirdly than before. “I’m here,” the professor said. “I can hardly believe it.”

“Why does it matter? The portal is shut.”

With a gloved hand, the professor unsealed a pouch on his vacc-suit. He took out a small device, aimed it at the portal and pressed a button.

To Maddox’s astonishment, the ancient portal began to dilate open.

“Ahhh,” the professor said. “It worked. Did you see that? It worked.”

“Captain,” Meta radioed.

“What is it?” Maddox asked her.

“
Victory
just sent us a message,” Meta said. “There’s another Builder drone. It’s heading straight for us.”

Maddox stared at Ludendorff. “Did you hear that?” he asked the professor.

Ludendorff gave him a crazy grin. Then, the man looked down at the open launch tube. Bright lights came on inside.

Maddox glanced over the man’s shoulder. A vast hollowed out area appeared inside the asteroid.

“We have to get out of here,” Meta radioed.

“Professor,” Maddox said. “We have to leave.”

Instead of responding, Ludendorff began to climb down the underbelly hatch, clearly intending to enter the launch tube.

“Professor!” Maddox shouted. “Didn’t you hear Meta? Another silver drone is heading toward us. We have to leave.”

Ludendorff paused long enough to look up at Maddox. A strange, fixed smile was his only answer.

“I’ll leave you,” Maddox said.

The professor began climbing down again.

“You loony bastard,” Maddox said. Throwing himself onto his stomach, the captain grabbed protrusions on the professor’s vacc-suit. With a surge of strength, Maddox hauled Ludendorff off the ladder.

The professor shouted, reaching up.

Maddox strained, employing his considerable hybrid strength. Ludendorff’s gloved hands clamped onto Maddox’s wrists, trying to pry off the captain’s grip.

“I’m going down,” the professor said harshly. “You don’t understand what’s at stake.”

Maddox heaved, pulling the professor up. “Meta!” he shouted. “Lift off, lift off. Get us off the surface.”

“No!” the professor said. “Don’t do it.”

“Are you mad?” Maddox panted.

The two men struggled, Ludendorff trying to pry himself free, Maddox hanging on, attempting to drag the other up into the craft. Around them, the shuttle shuddered.

“No,” Ludendorff said. “I’ve waited longer than you can you imagine to get here. Let go of me.”

Maddox saved his breath for the struggle. What had happened to the professor? Why did the man risk his life for this? It didn’t make sense.

Slowly, the shuttle lifted, gaining greater separation by the second.

“Look!” Maddox yelled. “We’re too high now. You have to come back inside.”

Through his bubble helmet, Ludendorff looked down. The portal receded from view, as did the hollow, lit interior. More of the asteroid’s surface appeared.

The professor released Maddox’s wrists, digging into a pouch on his vacc-suit. Ludendorff came up with a shock rod.

“We’re too high,” Maddox said.

The professor slapped the shock rod against Maddox’s left wrist. Power crackled, some of it buzzing through the suit.

Maddox’s hand opened involuntarily.

Ludendorff slapped the other wrist. The professor fell free for several meters and should have floated once out of the gravity dampener’s range.

Maddox watched in amazement, his wrists throbbing. What was Ludendorff thinking?

The professor pulled something else out of a vacc-pouch. A second later, what might have been a Builder tractor beam caught him, guiding Ludendorff down into the open launch tube.

All the while, the shuttle lifted, taking Maddox farther away from the professor.

-15-

Second Lieutenant Keith Maker piloted
Victory
. Valerie and Dana were asleep. The old sergeant was the only other person on the bridge with Keith. Galyan had departed to warm up the disruptor cannon.

“Did you see that, mate?” Keith asked Riker. “The professor went AWOL on them so he could zip into the asteroid.”

Riker stared at the main screen with Keith. It showed a close up of the shuttle and Builder asteroid base. In the farther distance was a bright speck: the coming drone. A thousand rocks floated between the shuttle and drone.

“Why would Ludendorff do that?” Keith asked.

Riker shook his head, clearly having no idea.

“Something’s not right,” Keith said. “But I can fix it.” He manipulated his board, increasing the starship’s velocity.

A warning beep came from another panel. Keith glanced there. “You want to see what that is, mate?”

Riker sat down at the sensor board. “It’s another drone,” the sergeant said in a gravelly voice.

“That’s just great,” Keith said. “Where is it?”

The sergeant read the coordinates off his panel.

“Ah,” Keith said, adjusting his board. Another bright speck appeared forty degrees away from the first one.

“
Victory
,” Meta said over the comm-line.

“
Victory
here,” Keith answered.

“Where is the drone? Our sensors haven’t picked it up yet.”

“There are two drones heading your way, love.”

Another beep sounded from Riker’s board.

Keith glanced at the man. The sergeant nodded, holding up three fingers.

“Correction,” Keith said. “Make that three drones heading for your shuttle.”

“Three?” Meta asked. “Are you sure?”

“Wouldn’t have said it otherwise,” Keith told her.

“Can you take them out?”

“You know I can. It will be a cinch with the disruptor cannon.”

Riker waved frantically for Keith’s attention.

“Yes?” Keith asked the sergeant.

“There’s a problem,” Riker growled. “Villars has broken out of confinement. I don’t know how he’s done it, but the man is in the main control room for the disruptor cannon.”

“Why does that matter to us?” Keith asked.

“Because Villars has convinced Galyan to power down the weapon,” Riker said.

Keith thought for a second. “Do you think you can dig Villars out of the control chamber?”

“I’d say it’s thirty-seventy on doing that,” Riker said.

“A seventy percent chance is good,” Keith said.

“Not when that’s my chance of failure,” Riker said.

“Oh,” Keith said. He thought a moment before leaning forward, opening channels again with the shuttle. “Meta, it looks like we have a problem.”

***

Maddox strode into the shuttle’s control room in time to hear Keith explain the situation. The captain was still stunned by Ludendorff’s action. The shuttle no longer circled the asteroid, but headed for
Victory
. The professor should be safe in the asteroid for as long as his air lasted. The same couldn’t be said for them in this little craft.

Maddox sat down at the piloting controls. “Patch me through to Villars,” he said into the comm.

“Yes, sir,” Keith said. “There. He can hear you, Captain.”

“Villars,” Maddox said.

“Hey, boy,” the slarn hunter said through the comm. “You got yourself a situation, have you?”

“We all have a situation,” Maddox said. “Three Builder drones are heading for us.”

“I heard that. My, my, my, but it seems you want the disruptor cannon online, is that it?”

“The professor is trapped in an asteroid.”

“Treachery, eh, boy?” Villars asked. “You picked a bad time for it.”

“The professor went mad,” Maddox said. “He left us voluntarily.”

“That’s the stupidest lie you could have told me, boy.”

Maddox stared at the comm. How had Villars gotten out of his quarters? Did the slarn hunter have secret access to Galyan?

“I’ll tell you what,” Villars said. “You give me your woman, and I’ll let you use the cannon.”

“Do you want the professor to die?” Maddox asked.

“That ain’t going to happen any time soon, trust me.”

“Is Ludendorff magic, then?”

“Maybe that’s right,” Villars said. “One thing you got to remember, he’s five times the man you are.”

“Keith,” Maddox said.

“Here, sir,” Keith said.

“Take the psycho offline,” Maddox said.

“Done, sir,” Keith said.

“Okay,” Maddox said. “We’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way with the neutron cannon. You said three drones are coming?”

“Yes, sir,” Keith said. “They’re each building up velocity.”

“You take them out while we come home to the barn.”

“I’ll do exactly that, sir,” Keith said.

“I know you will,” Maddox said, hoping the ace hadn’t lost his touch.

***

Victory
increased velocity as the shuttle picked up speed, heading for the starship. The three drones grew from specks to lozenge shapes.

“If I had the disruptor cannon, I could start firing already,” Keith said. “The neutron beam is a short-range weapon.”

“If mice were men,” Riker said.

The ace glanced at the old man. “What’s that mean?”

“Use what you have instead of wishing for the moon.”

“Aye,” Keith said. “That’s a fair statement. Now, I need to concentrate. Moving this mammoth through these asteroids is going to take some concentration.”

The next ten minutes proved interesting, and showed yet again that Keith Maker was the best pilot among them. He made the massive ship seem like a responsive strikefighter. During that time, he slowed enough and matched velocities to allow the shuttle through the hangar bay doors. Then, he approached Ludendorff’s asteroid.

By that time, the drones had grown large. These three were considerably bigger than the first one. Their sensors locked onto the starship. Red rays stabbed out of their nosecones, concentrating on the same section of
Victory’s
electromagnetic shield.

“This reminds me of the captain’s time against the three star cruisers out in the Beyond,” Keith told Riker. “He used the star drive to give himself a little magic back then.”

Keith’s nimble fingers played across his board. He brought up a star cruiser’s dimensions and compared it to one of the new Builder drones. The two proportions were identical.

“Sons of thunder,” Keith muttered. “That’s got to mean something.” He scratched his left cheek. Soon, he slapped the intercom on. “Say, mate, you got a death wish?”

“Speak to me, little man,” Villars said.

“We’re facing three star cruisers—”

“Don’t lie to me,” Villars snarled. “These are Builder drones.”

“I just checked the data banks,” Keith said. “These Builder drones are a match for star cruisers.”

“I’ll be damned,” Villars said. “I guess the professor was right about that, too.”

“He sure was,” Keith said. “That means if you want to live, you should warm up the disruptor cannon for all our sakes.”

Villars chuckled nastily. “Three drones can’t take down
Victory
.”

“I don’t understand why you want to make this a close run thing.”

“So I can get justice, boy. That’s an easy concept to understand.”

Keith’s board began to blare a warning. He cut the connection with Villars. At the same time, Lieutenant Noonan raced onto the bridge with her hair in disarray from sleep. She must have heard the red alert Keith had sent out earlier.

“Move it,” Valerie snapped at Riker.

The sergeant hurried out of her seat.

Valerie slid into it and began typing on her board. “You fool,” she told Keith. “The shield has become critical. How come you’re not bleeding it like you should?”

“No time to worry about that,” the ace said. “I’m trying to get into firing range.”

“You’re charging straight into their rays,” Valerie said. “Use the asteroids to slip-slide toward them.”

“That’s a good idea but I don’t have time. I’m trying to protect the professor’s asteroid. That means keeping the drones interested in us instead of him.”

“Do you hear yourself?” Valerie asked. “The drones can’t hurt the asteroid.”

“Why are they here now then?” Keith asked.

“To destroy our starship,” Valerie said.

“That’s one theory. I’ve got another, which is to kill the launch base so we can’t poke around in it.”

The shield where the beams struck had already turned a dark brown. Now, it was a touch lighter as Valerie adjusted, shield bleeding with concentrated skill.

“Your theory doesn’t make sense,” Valerie told Keith.

“You weren’t a strikefighter pilot, love. I know what I’m talking about when it comes to bases.”

“Second lieutenant,” Valerie said, “I’m ordering you to—”

“If you don’t believe me, look at this,” Keith said, as he manipulated his board. “Do you see their trajectories?” He indicated the main screen. Dotted lines superimposed on the screen showed where the drones headed. Each raced for Ludendorff’s asteroid.

“Why would the drones go there?” Valerie asked softly.

“I already told you: to stop the professor from getting what he thinks is so almighty important. I mean, why would Ludendorff risk his life, eh? Because the prize is worth it—at least, that’s what I think.”

Keith grinned then. A slap of a switch cleared the main screen of dotted lines. The three gleaming drones had become even larger than before. Their beams hammered
Victory’s
shield. A full half of the deflector area was dark brown. A few more minutes of this intensity would surely bring the shield down.

The ace from Glasgow stabbed a button. A purple neutron beam fired from its cannon, striking the leftmost drone’s shield.

***

Maddox and Meta raced through the starship’s corridors toward the disruptor cannon control room. The captain still couldn’t understand the professor’s choice. What had the Builders stored in their launch bases that caused the Methuselah Man to risk his life like that?

“Galyan,” Maddox shouted. “I’m calling in my marker.”

A moment later, the holoimage moved easily beside Maddox as the captain sprinted ahead of Meta.

“What do you mean, marker?” the AI asked.

“Do you remember I was the one who convinced you to trust us?” Maddox asked. “Because of me, you no longer have a Swarm virus.”

“This is true,” Galyan said.

“Instead of the Swarm virus, Ludendorff has put a bug in you.”

“I have heard you make this claim for some time,” Galyan said. “The professor tells me—”

“Who do you trust more, Galyan: the professor or me?”

“Normally, I would say you. In this instance—”

“The ship is under attack,” Maddox said, trying another avenue. “You need the disruptor cannon. Check your scanners if you don’t believe me.”

“I just did. You are correct. This is a troubling development.”

“Warm up the disruptor cannon.”

“I cannot. Villars—”

“Gas him,” Maddox said.

“I don’t have any gas at that location.”

“Then tell me where he’s hiding in the chamber,” Maddox said. “I’ll dig him out. Afterward, you warm up the cannon.”

“I cannot do that. The professor instructed me to obey Villars if the other recited a code sequence. The slarn hunter spoke the words. Now I am compelled to obey him.”

“Right,” Maddox said, thinking fast. “Did Villars order you not to tell me where he’s waiting?”

“He did not,” Galyan admitted.

“Well…?”

“The slarn hunter will kill you, Captain. My probability indicators give you almost zero chance of success if you simply charge into the chamber.”

“That still doesn’t give me his location,” Maddox said.

“He waits seven meters from the hatch with a rifle trained at the entrance. He will kill whoever enters the compartment. I am also to give him a warning when someone reaches seven meters from the hatch in the outer corridor.”

Maddox skidded to a halt. Seconds later, Meta stopped beside him, panting for air.

“We’re not going to get to Villars in time,” Maddox told her.

“So what do we do?” Meta asked.

Maddox slid down against a bulkhead, bending his head in thought. He was going to have to trust his crew to defeat the three drones with the neutron cannon while he took care of the situation here.

“Should I don a space marine suit?” Meta asked.