The Lost Patrol (40 page)

-73-

The ship awoke. The reports poured in, and it turned out that
Victory
had taken more damage than anyone expected.

The Chitin particle beams had been particularly harmful. The nuclear blasts at nearby range had magnified the problem. Almost a hundred crewmembers had radiation burns and sickness. They were still lining up in sickbay. Around half the ship systems did not work and would not be online for hours and maybe even days.

This was like the first days aboard
Victory
when they had still been trying to figure everything out. The differences today were many. Ludendorff and Dana were both awake and alert. The same held true for the Kai-Kaus. Andros Crank proved critical, as he understood Adok technology as if born to it, which, of course, he had been. The third plus was that even with so many crewmembers down, they had many more who were eager to make repairs.

“Why did we arrive at this particular star system?” Maddox asked Ludendorff as they gathered in a conference room with a few of the others.

“Captain, I’ve told you several times already,” the professor said. “I targeted the Solar System so we would appear halfway between Jupiter and Neptune. I have no idea what went wrong.”

Maddox turned to Yen Cho. The legless android sat at the table, with Meta nearby.

“I have nothing to add,” the android said. “I in no way had anything to do with our present destination. If you’ll remember, I took a data gulp and could do nothing else.”

“Surveyor?” the captain asked. “You have the capacity to have altered our destination.”

“I suppose I might,” Shu said. “But—” She rubbed her forehead. “There’s something I don’t understand. It’s on the edge of my consciousness, but refuses to show itself.”

Maddox sighed inwardly. His initial thought seemed to have been correct. Shu was the culprit, again.

“Can you describe this hidden thought?” Maddox asked her.

Shu gave him a reproving glance. “If I could do that, I’d know what I can’t recall.”

“What is brought to mind as you try to dredge up the memory?”

“Well…it has something to do with Spacer history.”

“There you go,” Maddox said. “What else do you sense?”

The small Spacer pursed her lips. “It feels like déjà vu, as if I’ve played out the situation before.”

“I have a question,” the professor said.

Maddox gestured curtly at the Methuselah Man to keep quiet.

“Now, see here, my boy,” Ludendorff complained.

“Professor,” Maddox said, sharply.

“Oh,” Ludendorff said, blinking. “I see. Yes, of course.”

Shu glanced at the professor. “What do you mean by, ‘Of course’?”

“Nothing at all, dear girl,” Ludendorff said, “My apology for interrupting.”

Shu turned toward the captain. “You don’t think I had anything to do with our being here?”

“You’re the most likely suspect,” Maddox said, “and your feeling of déjà vu makes it doubly so.”

“Why would that matter?”

“I ask myself if inner compulsions might not feel like déjà vu. You feel like you’ve done this before because something inside you is telling you to do it.”

“You mean like hypnotic commands?” Shu asked.

Before Maddox could answer, Galyan appeared in the chamber. “Captain, the specifications you asked for have arrived.”

Shu grew still before swaying as if surprised. “Spacers have arrived in the star system.”

“Correction,” Maddox said. “Galyan has detected
cloaked
Spacers. Worse, they are approaching us. The evidence suggests they’ve been in the star system for some time. It would seem they have been waiting for us to arrive.”

“Captain,” Shu said earnestly. “I’m on your side. We’ve been to hell and back, and I finally realize the truth about the female Builder, that it was an android. But if my people are waiting for us, it implies they knew I would make sure to target the return hyper-spatial tube here.”

Shu pinched her lower lip. “I think you’re right about a compulsion. They did something to me. The old Spacer plan is forfeit, however. The truth about the android Builders means that I cannot allow
Victory
to fall into the Visionary’s hands. I can’t, because I have to save my people from their false view of the past. Captain, you must stun me one more time. You cannot let me communicate with the Spacers.”

Maddox tapped a finger on the table. He looked up and addressed the others. “I believe her. Professor, if you please.”

Ludendorff hesitated.

The captain cleared his throat.

Finally, Ludendorff reached inside his vest, pulled out a small black cube and adjusted it.

Shu touched her forehead, frowning. “I feel dizzy.”

“It should pass,” Ludendorff said.

Shu took her hand away from her head. “What did you do to me?”

“Try to use your transduction,” the professor suggested.

Shu concentrated. “I can’t,” she said, sounding slightly hysterical. “I feel something missing in me, like I have lost one of my senses. I do not like this.”

“It’s temporary,” the professor said. “I wouldn’t be too worried.” He turned to Maddox. “I don’t intend to be her guardian.”

“Give the cube to Meta for now,” Maddox said.

The professor twisted around, and with a fatalistic shrug, he handed the cube to Meta.

The Rouen Colony woman pocketed it.

“The two of you will be spending all your time together for a while,” Maddox told the Spacer.

“Captain,” Shu said. “I appreciate this show of trust. However, it would be easier and safer for all of you to render me unconscious. Why are you doing it like this?”

“You said it yourself,” Maddox said. “We’ve been to hell and back.”

“You’re a sentimentalist,” Shu said, shocked.

“No,” Maddox said. “I’m a loyalist. I stick by those who stick by me.”

“But I caused our present problem,” Shu said.

“I believe it was directed by someone else,” Maddox said. “I abhor mind control. We’ll leave it at that. Meta, take Shu to medical. Have Dana run the Amber-Clayton psyche test on our guest. That might be a good place to start.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Shu said. “You won’t regret this.”

The two women left the chamber.

Maddox stood. “Professor, please come with me to the bridge.”

“What about me?” Yen Cho asked.

“You will remain here for now,” Maddox told the android. “Do not fear. I will not surrender you to the Visionary. You are too important to Star Watch for that.”

Yen Cho considered that, finally nodding. “I find that acceptable. But Captain…”

Maddox waited.

“If I ever find something unacceptable, I will delete the Builder data from my core.”

“Of course,” Maddox said, “as that is your primary bargaining chip. Professor, it’s time we hurried to the bridge.”

***

Captain Maddox sat on his chair in his dress uniform. Ludendorff stood to the side. The professor was out of range of the video feed going over to the Spacer flagship but in easy conversation range with the captain.

Galyan stood behind the captain’s left shoulder, while the others were at their stations.

The Kai-Kaus and those crewmembers who were able continued to make repairs. A small amount of power went to the shields, all they could afford at present. A disrupter cannon was online, but at best could only make a few beams before the weak energy banks became depleted.

Given enough time, the crew could probably bring
Victory
back to sixty, maybe sixty-five percent efficiency. The Chitin particle beams had done too much damage for anything more. The beams had been extremely short-ranged, but once able to reach, they had created a disproportionate amount of destruction. If the shield had been up, none of that would have mattered. Could-have, would-have, should-have, the shields had been down and those particle beams had been brutal. Maybe the particle beams were the reason the Chitins had done so well against the Swarm for so long.

Victory
faced nine Spacer ships. They were larger versions of the saucer-shaped vessels Maddox had faced at the Dyson sphere over a year ago. The saucer circumferences were three-quarters the size of one of
Victory’s
two oval areas.

“Until we know otherwise,” Maddox said. “We will work on the assumption that each Spacer vessel has a New Man star-cruiser-like capacity for battle.”

“That means in a straight fight we’re outmatched out here,” Valerie said.

“The correct word would be ‘overpowered,’” Ludendorff told her.

The nine Spacer vessels approached in a staggered formation. They’d dropped their cloaks but had strong shields. If the starship’s sensor readings were correct, each of them had also targeted
Victory
and charged their weapons for firing.

“Do you know what you’re going to say?” Ludendorff asked the captain.

Maddox did not reply.

A few moments later, Valerie’s comm board blinked. She’d taken over comm duties for the moment. She tapped her board, listening with an ear-jack.

“Captain,” the lieutenant said.

Maddox nodded imperceptibly.

The main screen wavered before revealing an old woman with wrinkled features and white hair. She sat upon a throne-like chair on a dais. She wore goggles just like Shu, but had a white polar bear fur wrapped around her. The Visionary, just like the last time Maddox had seen her.

“Hello, Captain Maddox,” the Visionary said in the same hoarse voice she’d used on the airship on Earth.

Maddox inclined his head while making a smooth gesture of respect. “It is good to see you again, Visionary. Much has taken place since I’ve last spoken to you.”

The Visionary peered at him from the main screen. “There is a new aura about you, Captain. You have grown. I congratulate you on your step upward to greater awareness.”

“Thank you,” he said.

The old woman picked at her polar bear fur as if spotting a piece of lint. After she was satisfied, the Visionary looked up again, asking, “Where is Shu?”

“On a medical bed,” Maddox said promptly.

“Is she ill?”

“No.”

A hard smile slid into place. “Captain, do we need to spar with each other? What has happened to Shu?”

“Yes,” Maddox said.

“Excuse me?”

“You
will
have to spar verbally to gain what you want.”

The Visionary’s smile tightened. “Do you think that wise given our disparity in numbers and firepower?”

“The disparity makes the sparring critical,” Maddox said, “as knowledge is one of my few assets in dealing with you today.”

The Visionary shook her head. “Captain, Captain, you’re mistaken. We are the Spacers. We’ve maneuvered in the background for ages. Out of all the human tribes and races, we know how to wait to get what we want.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Maddox said. “May you go in peace, Visionary. It has been pleasant seeing you again.”

She waited several seconds before saying, “I understand your nature, you know. There are several things I can count on about you. One of them is your New Man’s arrogance. Do you realize this about yourself?”

Maddox said nothing.

“It is true, Captain. I also sense that many in your crew realize this to be true.”

“Madam,” he said, “you have the upper hand today. What do you propose to do with it?”

“Get what I came for,” she said. “You do know what I came for, don’t you?”

Maddox studied her. She seemed to accept that, waiting for him to reach what she no doubt thought of as the obvious conclusion.

“You want what we’ve all wanted,” Maddox said, “greater knowledge about the Deep Beyond. You want to know more about the Builders, the Swarm Imperium and whatever else we found out there.”

The Visionary leaned forward minutely. “What
did
you find?”

Maddox shrugged.

“You wish to push the issue, is that it?” she asked.

“I’m not going to help you decide whether you should risk open war against the Commonwealth to get what you think we have.”

“What risk?” the Visionary asked. “You’re all alone. It is why I chose this star system. I can take what I want without the Commonwealth or anyone else ever knowing about it.”

Maddox smiled faintly. “It was a good plan except for one minor but critical miscalculation.”

“Please,” she said. “Are you going to claim Star Watch has hidden ships in the system?”

Maddox said nothing.

“I realize you love to bluff, Captain. You’re also
di-far
, making you a formidable opponent. I, however, am the Visionary. I am a
di-far
in my own right.”