The Lost Patrol (16 page)

“I’ve already told you that we, like you, want to know how close the Swarm Imperium is to Human Space.”

“I know that much. I mean what else are you seeking?”

Shu shrugged. “I don’t know what else.”

“I don’t believe you,” Maddox said. “I think you know exactly what you’re looking for. I believe you won’t tell me because I would be against it.” He fell silent, thinking, finally admitting, “I’m not sure what to do with you.”

“Try trusting me.”

Maddox smiled faintly and glanced back at Meta. “Shall we trust her?”

“No,” Meta said.

“There you have it, Provost Marshal,” Maddox said. “We lack trust. However, you have answered my primary questions. Thus, I won’t order the surgery…yet. I have much to consider. Good day.”

“Are you letting me out of detention?” Shu shouted.

He faced her while standing on the other side of the open door. “No,” he said.

“I’m sick of this confinement.”

“No doubt,” Maddox said. “But it’s better than your alternative.” He shut the door.

“Well?” Meta asked.

“I need to think about this,” Maddox said.

“She didn’t tell us everything she can do with those devices,” Meta said.

Maddox didn’t reply, as that was obvious. Instead, he took Meta by the arm and led her down the corridor. Why did Shu 15, a Spacer with Builder adaptations, hate the Methuselah Men, Builder-modified beings? It was perplexing, which actually delighted the captain—now that he knew, or was fairly certain anyway, that the cloudiness was departing his mind.

He’d been born to solve puzzles such as these and to test himself against worthy opponents. It would seem that Shu had become something of an enigma.

-25-

Keith Maker sat in medical, clicking pages on his tablet. He read a PUA (pickup artist) book on scoring with chicks. According to this, girls used a guy in the friend zone. It was called being a White Knight, doing things for the ladies in the hope they’d notice you as dating material.

He couldn’t believe it. Here was a pic of a guy painting a girl’s toenails. Oh boyo, this was terrible. Here was a Tom carrying a girl on his shoulders while she kissed another taller man. Look at the scowl on the White Knight’s face.

Keith never wanted to be the loser carrying a woman on his shoulders while she kissed someone else. That was pathetic. He wanted to be the other guy.

So far, according to this, women liked the dangerous Toms, the alpha types, the jerks that did exactly what they wanted to do.

Keith grinned. He was dangerous. No one flew a combat fighter better than he did. He frowned a moment later. How would a woman know he was dangerous? He had to get her inside a strikefighter and let her see him in action.

Those with big muscles had an advantage. Tall men did too. Did that mean he should take up a personal combat art? It probably wouldn’t hurt. Maybe he should curl barbells this trip, too.

I will never be a White Knight. I will never be in the friend zone.

How could he show Shu 15 that he was an alpha warrior if she stayed locked away in detention the whole trip?

Keith kept reading as Sergeant Riker snored in the bed. Doctors had removed the android’s bullet from his chest.

The old bounder needed sleep. There were several tubes in Riker, pumping meds into him, but rest would aid in the healing process.

Ack, this was interesting. The PUA book said a man needed a sense of plenty, as in plenty of women to choose from. According to this, it was poor form having a case of one-itis. If a woman refused your entreaties, it was time to move on to a different lady.

But what if I don’t want to move on?
Keith wondered.
Do I have one-itis?

He recalled Shu’s wave and the pert way she walked. Keith couldn’t help grinning, imagining what he would like to do to Shu. He envisioned them alone, him standing arrogantly, eying her so she understood he was a Highland warrior. He would bend in, kiss her lightly and begin unbuttoning her blouse.

Keith’s smile turned lusty as his eyes glazed over. Yes, siree, she was a beauty. She—

Riker groaned.

For a moment, Keith didn’t notice. He was too absorbed in his Shu fantasy.

The sergeant groaned again, smacking his lips together.

That jerked Keith out of his fantasy. He laid the tablet on his lap. The old bounder stirred in the bed, his head moving on the pillow. The eyes cracked open and Riker looked around.

Keith set the tablet aside and stood, moving to the railing on the side of the bed. “Aye, mate,” he said. “How are you feeling?”

Riker didn’t appear to recognize him.

“It’s me,” Keith said, thumping himself on the chest.

“Where am I?” Riker wheezed.

“What? You’re on Starship
Victory
,” Keith said. “Where else would you be?”

Riker groaned, using his bionic hand, gently touching his chest. “An android shot me.”

“Aye, but you’re okay now.”

Greater coherence filled the sergeant’s eyes. “The thing could have killed me.”

“That wasn’t bloody likely,” Keith said. “The captain was there.”

Riker eyed him. “I take it the captain is well?”

“Aye,” Keith said. He told Riker what had happened after he went down.

The sergeant glanced at the tubes in his arms and the medical machines keeping watch over his vital signs.

“We’ve been taking turns,” Keith said. “The captain has sat with you at times. You were still out, though.”

“How long until I’m fit?” Riker asked.

“Do you want me to get the doctor?”

“Not yet.”

Keith’s grip tightened on the railing. He shifted from foot to foot.

The sergeant was a clever old dodger. He seemed to notice. “Is something wrong?”

“No. It’s just… you know, I’m wondering what she’s like.”

“Who?”

“Shu 15. You saw her. She’s a beauty.”

Riker’s gaze shifted as he took that in. Finally, the sergeant smiled ruefully.

“What are you grinning about?” Keith asked.

“The woman’s a viper,” Riker said.

“That can’t be true. I saw her. She’s a sweet package, and she waved to me. She has a fantastic smile.”

“She’s a Spacer Intelligence officer,” Riker said.

“What blarney are you spewing? You’re saying she’s a spy?”

“Spies are people that case officers had turned. She’s a case officer, a nasty piece of work. Believe me, boy. You don’t want anything to do with her.”

“That’s tripe, mate. You’re just saying that to boggle me mind. She looks…nice. I mean, couldn’t you blokes have overreacted concerning her?”

Riker half rolled on his bed. Keith let go of the rails, stepping back. The old sergeant pointed at his crotch.

“Don’t think with that,” Riker said. “Instead, use that.” He pointed at Keith’s brain.

Keith laughed even as he blushed. “You’ve never been sweet on a girl before?”

Riker collapsed back onto his back. He sighed wistfully. “I’ve known a woman or two.”

“I'm betting it was more like dozens of ladies,” Keith said.

Riker glanced at him.

“You must have been a Highlander with the ladies in the old days,” Keith said.

Riker appeared surprised.

“You probably had a string of ‘em eager to get with you.”

Riker glanced at him before staring up at the ceiling.

“You’re not feeling well?” Keith asked.

“Shu isn’t for you.”

Keith bristled. “Why do you say such a thing? Do you think she’s too much for me?”

“Find a good woman,” Riker said. “Marry her. It isn’t about how many women you screw. It’s about finding one worth having. I never did, and that was my loss. It’s hard to find a good woman. Rutting like animals doesn’t help you find her. Finding a woman of quality is the key.”

“How do you propose I do that?”

Riker sighed. “If I knew, I would have done it myself.”

“Maybe you’re right. But I’m thinking… How do you say it? A hot babe is critical, the hotter the better. I mean, why else bother?”

Riker glanced at him again. “She’s a user. Remember that. If the captain ever lets her out of detention and she shows an interest in you, know that it’s because she’s planning to use you.”

“I’m not a White Knight, mate.”

Riker appeared perplexed.

“I’m an alpha on the prowl.”

“I’m tired,” Riker said. “And some of the things you say make me realize how old I am. I’m going back to sleep.”

“You’re going to be okay, Sergeant. You hang in there, mate.”

Riker had already closed his eyes, and he was beginning to snore.

Keith picked up his tablet. The Spacer honey was a user, eh? He would remember that. Still, the way she’d shaken her tush at him…

The lieutenant headed for the exit, with his eyes half-lidded. He reentered his fantasy where he was unbuttoning her blouse. He actually shivered with delight as he thought about reaching for her bra. She was the sweetest woman on the starship, and one way or another, Keith planned to make her his darling.

-26-

Maddox found the next few days hectic but productive. Even better, the Spacer toxin had finally lost its potency. He felt like himself again, his mind like a razor.

The medical teams finished examining each crewmember. Everyone was exactly as he or she appeared to be. Human. That meant six androids had made it onto
Victory
but no more.

The detention center attack had been their last hurrah as they’d tried to assassinate Shu 15. Maddox couldn’t conceive of any other reason for the assault.

With Andros Crank’s help, Maddox installed powerful scramblers around Shu’s chamber. Would they prevent her from using her Builder devices to read transmissions?

Andros had his doubts. The Kai-Kaus was a stout man, wheezing most of the time. “These are human-built scramblers,” he explained to Maddox. “The Spacer possesses Builder items. Everyone on the Dyson sphere knew that Builder-built was always superior to anything else.”

“But if the scramblers overload her processor—”

“Captain,” Andros said. “According to you, she spoke of transduction. She can see radiation; see wavelengths. I imagine she could pick out the right wavelength with ease. These scramblers might force her to take a little longer looking for the right bandwidth. I doubt they will do anything else.”

“How do we blind her then?”

Andros shook his long gray hair. “Don’t use electrical-based equipment to transfer your ideas. Perhaps the better barrier would be to let her know the holoimage watches to see if she uses her items. When they’re active, Galyan knows. However, she must already realize this. I suspect she will limit her use for a time, if for no other reason than to attempt to throw you off the scent.”

Maddox didn’t like that. But what else could he do? He tried speaking to her again.

Shu had become like the ancient sphinx, though. She said nothing other than, “Let me out of here.”

They both knew he wouldn’t do that. She was waiting for something. He asked her about Spacer customs in order to get her talking. She didn’t bite. He asked how the Spacers had originally found the Builder tech. She remained stoically silent.

When Maddox mentioned her silence on the bridge one day, an informal discussion began. It started when Andros Crank suggested they put Shu in a lifeboat and leave her.

“She is a danger, Captain,” Andros said. “She lacks loyalty to our communal effort. Good men and women have already died because of her silence. She means us harm. That is my firm conviction.”

“I agree, sir,” Valerie said. “Remember when the professor took over the starship? He used Builder items to do it that trumped ours. Do the scramblers really hinder Shu?”

Maddox glanced at Andros for confirmation. The Kai-Kaus shrugged before looking away.

“Valerie and Andros are right,” Meta added.

Maddox eyed the others as irritation struck. His normal way would be to ignore the lot of them. He was the captain. He would trust his own judgment…

No. That’s wrong. I can trust my family. Remember all the times they helped me. With them, I can let my guard down at least a little. Why not explain some of your motivation?

“I know Shu is dangerous,” Maddox said. “But consider this. Valerie spoke about the professor. He’s always been a threat to the crew, as he always has his own agenda. Worse, he’s smarter than we are and has vastly more experience. We’re going to pick up the professor in the Xerxes System. That means we’ll have two dangerous, Builder-modified people aboard. Yet maybe Shu and Ludendorff will cancel each other out as they plot against one another. If we’re going to carry the one, we might as well have the other as the antidote.”

At navigation, Valerie squirmed in her seat.

“You have something to add?” Maddox asked.

“Shu used androids toward nefarious ends,” Valerie said. “She used a toxin against your mind. The first two androids also planned to modify your thinking. That seems to indicate that they all acted in tandem.”

Maddox considered that, although he no longer believed the androids had belonged to the Spacers. Galyan had already attempted to dissect the captured android brains. They had each melted down just like the captured androids that had tried to overthrow the Commonwealth a year ago. That showed these androids likely came from the Builder base at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, the same as the others.

He explained that to them.

“I’m not an Intelligence officer,” Valerie said. “But the Atlantic Builder base proves the Spacers were behind the original android assault. The Spacers have fooled us with their so-called pathologies regarding androids.”

“That doesn’t hold,” Maddox said. “The Atlantic Ocean androids belonged to the Builder in the Dyson sphere.
That
Builder made the Methuselah Men, like Strand and Ludendorff. The Spacers hate those two.” He hesitated before adding, “I’m convinced that means we’re looking at two different Builders with possibly different goals. The Builder who created the Spacers is different from the one who created Strand and Ludendorff and unleashed the androids. And we all know that Spacers hate androids—that has been one of the few known facts that dates back at least twenty years.”

“If Spacers hate androids so much,” Valerie said, “why didn’t Shu tell us about the ones in our ship? With her adaptations, she must have known androids had snuck aboard.”

“Andros?” the captain said.

The Kai-Kaus looked up sharply from his location at engineering.

“Explain that, would you?”

The stout Kai-Kaus scratched one of his fleshy cheeks. “The reason for Shu’s silence seems obvious. We would have asked her how she knew about the androids. To convince us, she would have had to explain about her adaptations. Those, she wanted kept secret.”

“For those reasons,” Maddox said, “Shu stays. Her usefulness seems greater than her danger. Remember, we’re attempting the impossible. Thus, we need powerful if dangerous tools to succeed.”

Valerie nodded slowly. “If I don’t fully agree, at least I understand your thinking. Thank you, sir.”

***

Several days later, Maddox sat in the command chair as
Victory
exited the final Laumer-Point, entering the fabled Xerxes System.

The system was like the ancient Bermuda Triangle, home to sinister legends. The alien Destroyer had been parked here before it had launched onto its deadly run. There were a few planets in the system, but the great danger had always been in the artificially constructed asteroid belt. The various rocks and debris were much closer than ordinary, more akin to Saturn’s rings than the Solar System’s far-flung asteroid belt. The giant silver pyramid known as a Nexus was in the belt, as were hidden silver drone bases. Star Watch vessels carefully searched for more drone bases. Other Star Watch vessels searched for any other hidden anomalies. Those searches were conducted with the utmost caution and over-watch protection.

It wasn’t long after
Victory’s
exiting of the Laumer-Point that Star Watch Admiral Esmeralda Diaz Lucia Sanchez hailed the ship.

The admiral controlled the flotilla guarding the star system. She had two older
Bismarck
-class battleships, a newer
Python
-class heavy cruiser, two strike cruisers loaded with antimatter missiles and seven old destroyers. Five of those destroyers were presently combing the belt. Several construction vessels were busy building a space station in orbit around the nearest planet.

Maddox knew that Sanchez had strict orders from Lord Admiral Cook to keep well away from the silver pyramid. No one wanted her flotilla entering a suddenly appearing hyper-spatial tube as had happened to Port Admiral Hayes last year. She was also supposed to keep everyone, including Ludendorff, from approaching too closely to the Nexus.

Admiral Sanchez appeared on the main screen with her long dark hair and intensely dark eyes. She was lean, smooth featured, and was almost one hundred years old.

After finishing with the pleasantries, Maddox asked, “Is Professor Ludendorff in the system?”

“He is,” Sanchez said.

“I take it he’s aboard your flagship,” Maddox said.

“On no,” Sanchez said. “The professor has refused every invitation. He’s in a former luxury yacht, bombarding the Nexus with endless sensor scans.”

“He’s near the pyramid?”

“As near as I’ll allow him. The
Wurzburg
keeps a close eye on the professor, ready with its tractor beam to pull his vessel back if it has to. Currently, both starships are approximately four hundred thousand kilometers from the Nexus.”

That was approximately the distance of the Moon from Earth.

“Have you at any time allowed the professor closer than that?” Maddox asked.

“Not on your life.”

Maddox felt a little easier hearing that. “Have you spotted any cloaked vessels in the system?”

“None,” Sanchez said, becoming curious. “Why do you ask?”

“We detected a cloaked star cruiser following us in the Tosk CL System. Since then, we haven’t picked up any more stray signals. Some of us believe the star cruiser might have raced here ahead of us.”

“Raced ahead of Starship
Victory
?” Sanchez asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

“I know that sounds improbable.”

“More like impossible,” Sanchez said.

“If it were any other vessel, I would agree. This is the infamous cloaked star cruiser, however. Its owner is Strand.”

“Oh,” Sanchez said. “We’ll redouble our surveillance efforts. Is there anything else we should know?”

Maddox nodded. “Have any Spacers entered the star system?”

Sanchez’s eyes widened. “Why, yes,” she said. “We had to order a Spacer convoy out of the system a few weeks ago.”

“Was there anything unusual about that?”

Sanchez studied him, seeming suspicious now. “Have you already been in contact with the professor? I’ve heard rumors about an interstellar communication device. Now I’m thinking these rumors are true”

“I have not been in contact with the professor,” Maddox said. “I take it the Spacers had something to do with Ludendorff?”

“The other way around,” Sanchez said. “Ludendorff alerted us to their presence. They appeared to have slipped into the system without my pickets having noticed them. It was embarrassing, to say the least, and it still remains perplexing.”

“The Spacers didn’t use a regular Laumer-Point?”

“I’m not sure they used a Laumer-Point at all. They slipped unseen into the system. How, I don’t know. They did leave using a Laumer-Point. Ludendorff had become quite frantic at that point, claiming the Spacers intended him harm. There was one unusual event at the end of the encounter.”

Maddox waited.

“The Spacer commander suggested I keep a close eye on Ludendorff.”

“Did he say why?”

Sanchez shook her head.

“What did you make of that?” Maddox asked.

“That the Spacer commander knew the professor. The man is brilliant, but I suspect he gets on everyone’s nerves after a while. That would include mine.”

“Is there anything else I should know, Admiral?”

Sanchez shook her head again. “We’re here any time you need us, Captain. All I ask is that you don’t unintentionally take us into a hyper-spatial tube with you. I understand…the nature of your assignment. The Lord High Admiral briefed me before I left Earth.”

“Thank you for everything, Admiral. We’ll begin our acceleration to the asteroid belt. We’re going to be going all the way to the pyramid.”

“I figured as much. Good luck, Captain, and be careful. This star system…it’s haunted. We can all feel it. I’ll be glad once my duty here is over.”

Maddox made a few polite noises before signing off. Afterward, he instructed the helm to take them toward the belt.

Victory
had made it to the Xerxes System, and the professor was waiting for them. Had the Methuselah Man figured out how to break into the Nexus and make it work for them? Just how dangerous was this going to be? And why had Spacers been nosing around? It must have been for the same reason that Shu had wormed her way onto the starship. Would the Spacers dare to attack a Star Watch flotilla? That would be against all their previously known actions.

Maddox stood. “Lieutenant, you have the bridge.”

Valerie nodded her assent as Maddox exited the chamber.

Soon, in a gym chamber, he wrapped his fists. He wore a pair of shorts and sparring shoes. His taut muscles visibly tightened and relaxed as he knotted the ties. He slipped leather gloves over that and began to strike a heavy bag.

The captain hit hard, making the bag swing. He was lean like a predator, without an ounce of fat. The growing unease in his stomach tightened. It caused him to become expressionless as his speed increased, and he struck the bag with endless combinations.

During the exhibition, Galyan appeared. The Adok holoimage watched with interest.

“You’re quicker than I remember,” Galyan said.