The Lost Earth (Lost Starship Series Book 7) Read online

  “I do not have time to align the disruptor cannon,” Galyan said. “I am firing the neutron cannon.”

  A purple gout of power struck the orange blob. It seemed to devour some of it. The rest continued upward in a roiling riot of—

  Victory shook as the orange energy blob struck the shields. They glowed instead of turning red, and in a second, the shields went down. The remainder of the orange blob struck the ship.

  This time, everyone went flying. The entire bridge shuddered as klaxons rang, lights blinked and electrical smoke trickled from some of the boards.

  “We cannot take another hit like that,” Galyan said. “Hull integrity will shatter with a second strike.”

  “Sir,” Valerie said. “Look at the planetary horizon. Six Spacer ships are accelerating toward us.”

  “Get us out of here, Lieutenant Maker,” Maddox said. “Get us moving as fast as you can.”

  “Aye, aye, mate,” Keith said.

  Victory turned in orbit quicker than seemed possible. A long energy tail burned from the exhaust ports. The starship began leaving its orbital station.

  “Do you think that will save you?” the Visionary said on the main screen. “It is charging up, Captain. Once it is ready, the cannon will fire again. Can you survive the next shot?”

  Maddox stared at the Spacer witch. A moment later, he let his shoulders slump and hung his head.

  “Turn off the antimatter engine,” the Visionary said.

  Maddox began to tremble. “Please…” he said, without raising his head.

  The Visionary laughed with glee. “I have tamed the arrogant Captain Maddox. Di-far indeed. You are nothing compared to me. This is your final warning, Captain. Then, you shall die.”

  Without looking up, Maddox raised a hand.

  Valerie broke the connection with the Visionary.

  Maddox’s demeanor changed abruptly. He looked up as Ludendorff’s face took the place where the Visionary had just been on the main screen.

  “I’ve done it,” the professor said. “Valerie is implementing the sequencing. I believe she has overridden the planetary cannon. The missile-mines will be harder. Do you wish to bait a trap for the Spacers?”

  Maddox nodded silently.

  “Continue to flee,” Ludendorff said. “Like many cowards, the Spacers love to chase a defeated foe. They will congratulate themselves on outwitting you. By the way, your act was magnificent.”

  Victory headed for space, leaving the desert planet behind as it gained velocity. The starship headed away from the red giant. The starship strained to reach a Laumer Point at the edge of the system.

  “Sir,” Valerie said. “According to my indicators, the planetary cannon has almost built-up another charge.”

  “What does it fire?” Maddox asked the professor.

  “Trillium plasma,” Ludendorff said.

  “What is that?” Maddox asked.

  “I’ll explain later,” the professor said. “I still have a few final calculations to make.”

  At Maddox’s orders, Ludendorff disappeared from the main screen. The split screen showed the stars and nearest waiting missile-mines out there, while the other half showed six saucer-shaped Spacer warships chasing them.

  “Galyan,” Maddox said, “have you found the cloaked ship yet?”

  “I have, Captain.”

  “Feed its coordinates to Valerie,” Maddox said. “Lieutenant, retarget that ship with the planetary cannon.”

  Seconds passed.

  “The cloaked Spacer vessel is almost out of the planetary cannon’s line-of-sight, sir,” Valerie said.

  “Fire at it anyway,” Maddox said.

  Valerie tapped her screen, waited, tapped again, and said, “I’m ready.”

  “Fire,” Maddox said.

  Valerie stabbed a button.

  On the sandy surface, the giant planetary cannon emitted a huge glob of Trillium plasma. In a roiling riot of orange mass, it boiled upward into space. This time, the mass did not chase Victory. Instead, the blob cut across the planet as it zoomed toward the cloaked Spacer vessel.

  At the last moment, the cloaking quit as hot exhaust poured out of the vents from the targeted vessel. The orange blob struck the Spacer shield, dissolved it and battered against the vessel.

  “Fire the disruptor cannon,” Maddox told Galyan. “Finish the stricken ship.”

  A second later, the antimatter engine roared with power. A hot disruptor beam flashed from Victory to the glowing Spacer vessel. The beam cut into the softened hull armor. It crashed through bulkheads, storage bins, living quarters, and smashed into the reactor core. A second later, the Spacer vessel exploded in a fiery death, the glowing hull armor flying in every direction.

  “Are we going to turn and face the other Spacers?” Keith asked from the piloting board.

  “Negative,” Maddox said. “We’re heading for the Laumer Point.”

  “What about those missile-mines?” Keith asked. “Some of them have begun turning toward us.”

  “Professor,” Maddox asked over his chair comm.

  “I’m giving the sequences to Valerie,” the Methuselah Man said. “We’ll know if we can get through them soon enough.”

  “Will we be able to target the Spacers with those missile-mines?” Maddox asked.

  “I’m not as sanguine about that,” Ludendorff said. “Is it important that we do?”

  “We’ll know soon,” the captain said. He regarded Valerie. “As soon as the planetary cannon is ready again, fire at the nearest Spacer ship.”

  “Yes, sir,” Valerie said. “Oh. The Visionary is hailing us.”

  Maddox shook his head. “I’m done talking to her for the moment. Let’s see what she does next.”

  -27-

  Victory gained velocity as it left the dusty planet behind. The missile-mines with their amazingly powerful warheads received radio signals from the starship. None of them turned toward the double oval vessel. They remained inert.

  On the planet, the giant cannon fired again. An orange glob struck another Spacer ship. The shield and ship disintegrated under the terrible plasma. That left five Spacer warships chasing Victory into the void.

  “They have more mass, sir,” Galyan said. “I am not convinced they have superior weaponry. I believe we can defeat them, sir.”

  “That isn’t the question,” Maddox said.

  Galyan waited. Finally, he glanced at Valerie as if for help. The lieutenant shook her head. Galyan sulked after that, disappearing from the bridge shortly.

  “The Visionary is hailing us again,” Valerie said.

  The starship had begun to thread through the giant minefield.

  Maddox clicked a button on his armrest. “Professor, could it cause the missile-mines to lock onto us if we speak to the Visionary?”

  “I don’t see why it should,” the professor replied. “Still, I would not recommend you speak to her.”

  “I want to hear what she has to say.”

  “Bah,” Ludendorff said. “She’s old and pompous with a bizarre philosophy. You’ll learn nothing more from her, at least nothing worthwhile considering the risks.”

  “You said it was low-risk.”

  Ludendorff scowled on the screen.

  “Thank you, Professor,” Maddox said.

  “Wait,” Ludendorff said.

  Maddox paused.

  “Bah, never mind,” the Methuselah Man said.

  Maddox wondered what Ludendorff had wanted to tell him. He knew better than to ask, though. Then, the professor would know that he’d been curious. It was better to feign disinterest. Maddox had learned that many people wanted to share their secrets. One of the best ways to get them to talk about themselves was to seem uninterested and maybe even exasperated at hearing about such things. Why this worked, the captain didn’t know. Perhaps it was good enough to know that it often did work.

  Ludendorff disappeared from the screen. The Visionary appeared in his place. She did not seem the same as only a
short time ago. Some of the arrogance and superiority had departed. She almost seemed crestfallen.

  “Captain,” she said. “I wish you would listen to reason.”

  “Why are you still following us?” Maddox asked.

  “You fool,” she said angrily. “I have to destroy you. I can’t allow you to free the Ska.”

  “Help me destroy it, then.”

  “Impossible.”

  “Ska can die. You said so yourself. That means it is possible to kill them with the correct weapon.”

  “Can you make them grow old?” she asked.

  “Perhaps a weapon that ages cells—”

  “They’re energy creatures, remember?”

  “Then I must find a way to age the energy.”

  “It doesn’t work like that,” she said.

  “How does it work? I would like to know.”

  She considered him for a time. “Give me your word that you won’t try to enter the null region. If you do, I will let you live.”

  Maddox cocked his head. He debated giving his word. Yet, this was different. He did not believe the Visionary could destroy the starship at this time. Therefore, he did not need to lie to her. Finally, the captain shook his head.

  “You’re a stubborn man.”

  “Thank you,” he said.

  “I did not mean that as a compliment.”

  “Yet that is how I’ve taken it.”

  “You’re too clever by half, Captain. This time, though, the odds are too stacked against you. If you release the Ska—”

  “Visionary,” Maddox said. “Your logic is flawed. Ska have already been through this part of the galaxy. We’re all alive. We—”

  “You have no idea how long ago the ancient conflict took place. Yes, the Nameless Ones and the Ska have been through this part of the galaxy. Don’t you think the Builders have sought a weapon that could kill the Ska? Don’t you understand the breadth of effort the Builders expended to fashion a null region? Why do you think they went to such lengths?”

  Maddox shrugged.

  “You can do better than that,” she admonished. “The Builders did so because they could not find a weapon to slay a Ska. Thus, they had to trap it in a place it could not escape. Yet now, you want to free it.”

  “Just because the Builders couldn’t do a thing doesn’t mean it can’t be done.”

  “It comes close to saying that,” the Visionary told him. “You are a mite compared to the Builders. Do not think to pit your puny skills against their glory.”

  “Okay,” he said.

  His answer seemed to exasperate her. “You lack reverence for your betters, Captain.”

  “While you truckle to an ideal,” Maddox said. “Which of us should people pity? You think it’s me. I think it’s you. Let the results determine which of us is right.”

  “If I’m right—”

  “Kill me if you can, Visionary, or teach me about the Ska.”

  The old woman grew motionless on her throne. At last, at a hand motion from her, the connection vanished.

  Shortly after that, the Spacers vanished.

  “Did they cloak?” Maddox asked.

  Valerie had been checking her panel. “I can’t detect them. It’s possible they have a star drive and used it to leave.”

  Maddox didn’t feel like summoning Galyan at the moment. The Adok was sulking. He would leave the poor AI alone for now.

  The captain stood. “Lieutenant,” he told Valerie, “you have the bridge.”

  She rose from her station and moved toward the command chair. As she did, Maddox headed for the exit. Maddox wanted to know what things Ludendorff had taken off planet…and why Ludendorff hadn’t already explained to him about the Ska.

  -28-

  Before Maddox went to see the professor, he stopped off at his quarters. He showered, shaved, donned clean clothes and then went to the cafeteria. He ate four eggs and several strips of bacon, drowning it all with several cups of coffee.

  He headed to Riker’s quarters second. The sergeant admitted him. Maddox questioned Riker about how he had known that he—the captain—had needed help on the planet.

  Riker explained it as a gut feeling.

  “Is the ego-fragment alive in you?” Maddox asked.

  Riker turned away, finally shrugging. “I don’t think so, but I don’t know for sure.”

  “Good enough,” Maddox said. He slapped Riker on the man’s real shoulder and headed for the exit. He noticed the dents on the hatch. On impulse, Maddox turned to regard the glum sergeant. “Thank you for what you did.”

  Riker nodded.

  “That’s one of the reasons I brought you along. I did need you in the end.”

  Riker regarded him. Finally, the leathery face broke into a shy grin.

  Once in the corridor, Maddox’s stride ate up the distance. It was finally time to talk to Ludendorff.

  ***

  They met in a dim lounge with viewing ports showing the red giant and the already dwindling desert planet. The background stars were few in this direction. Valerie had reported that Galyan had been unable to detect any cloaked vessels following them. The Spacers must have used a jump drive to flee.

  Ludendorff sat on a cushioned chair with a goblet of red wine in his hand. He swirled the cup, inhaled the aroma and sipped.

  “Wonderful vintage,” the Methuselah Man said as he smacked his lips.

  Maddox had declined any wine. Only the strongest alcoholic beverages affected him, and any of those for only a short time. His greater metabolism burned away alcohol in his bloodstream much faster than the average individual’s could do.

  “We did it,” the professor declared.

  Maddox cocked his head. “What did we do?”

  Ludendorff laughed with delight. “We beat the pharisaic Spacers, the moralistic lecturers who preach about what we should and shouldn’t do.”

  “Did you know the Spacers would be down there?”

  “What rot and nonsense,” the professor said.

  “I see.”

  “Oh, don’t get yours feathers in a ruff, Captain. I had no idea the Visionary would poke her nose into this.” The professor shrugged. “We beat them soundly, and that feels good. Doesn’t it feel good to you?”

  Maddox nodded. It did feel good.

  “So, we celebrate yet another victory,” Ludendorff said, raising the goblet into the air before taking a sip and putting the glass on a side table.

  “There are a few things I don’t understand,” Maddox said.

  “You’ve come to the right person, my boy. I’m feeling expansive. Ask away.”

  “How could a plasma cannon survive down there for as long as it did?”

  “Yes. That is interesting, isn’t it? The short answer is that I don’t know how.”

  Maddox studied the Methuselah Man. “You and Strand didn’t find any evidence of ancient weaponry two hundred years ago?”

  “Indeed not. In case you don’t believe me, the proof is in the New Men.”

  “Oh,” Maddox said. “Yes.” The star cruisers would have possessed trillium plasma cannons if Strand had known about the ancient weapons. That was a good point.

  “It’s a delight to speak to a person of true intelligence,” Ludendorff said. “I get so bored having to explain every little detail to people. Even with you, though, discussions can become tedious. I hope this one remains on a high plane of thought throughout.”

  A wry grin slid onto the captain’s face. Ludendorff was acting expansively. Was this real or was the professor faking for reasons he did not yet understand?

  “The Visionary spoke about the Ska,” Maddox said.

  “Did she now?”

  “How did she learn so much about the null region and the creature in it when the great Professor Ludendorff knows so little?”

  “The riddle is easily solved. The Spacers are repositories of deep knowledge. Despite their moralistic nagging, they are erudite. It’s what makes them so exasperating. Perhaps you
could relate to me your conversation with the Visionary in the stone dome.”

  Maddox thought about that. He could try to pry critical information out of the professor, trading fact for fact, or he could try a different approach. The captain shrugged. Why not try something new? He told the professor what he remembered of the talk.

  “Interesting, interesting,” the professor murmured. His eyes were alight as he listened, drinking in the details. Finally, Ludendorff slapped a knee. “Notice her surprise at there being Destroyers in the null region. Perhaps she knows less than you think.”

  “That may be true,” Maddox admitted. “Or perhaps she can collect data in ways we don’t understand.”

  “You think this because of her ‘Visionary’ title?”

  “Maybe…” Maddox said.

  “Yes…” Ludendorff said, finally nodding. “The possibility exists, I suppose.”

  “Which means you think it’s true,” Maddox said.

  Ludendorff picked up the goblet, staring at the gently swirling wine. It seemed he’d fallen into a trance. Finally, he reached to set down the goblet without drinking from it. The glass clicked on the side table.

  “Throughout the years I’ve heard a mention here and there of the Ska,” Ludendorff said slowly. “I’ve never heard the Ska mentioned in the same breath as the Nameless Ones. That is new to me, quite interesting and…troubling.”

  Maddox waited.

  “I should have confided in you sooner, my boy. From what I know, the Ska are the next thing to immortal. They age like the stars. That was a poetic turn of phrase for the Spacer witch. The Ska are old indeed, and I suppose the word evil fits their actions. The idea of an ego-fragment—” The professor shook his head. “That is nearly inconceivable to me. Perhaps it wasn’t a fragment at all.”

  “What then?” Maddox asked.

  “A spawn, I would think. From my understanding, a Ska can split like a body’s cell. Each half receives the collected knowledge and wisdom of the original and yet gains a youthful vigor. Perhaps the spawn, the half, used this vigor to…detach a part of itself and reach the Spacer messenger.”

  “How could it do this and not entirely escape its null region prison?”

  “That, my boy, is the question. Maybe it doesn’t matter precisely how you’re asking it. The key is how do you kill a thing like the Ska?”