The Lost Colony (Lost Starship Series Book 4) Page 13

  Her body-armor hid a voluptuous figure, while her long blonde hair was tucked under a battle helmet.

  Maddox and she were lovers. He had always come for her in the end. If she had to today, Meta was going to do the same thing for him.

  “You’re sure Maddox knows the plan?” Meta asked.

  “Why are you asking me?” Keith said. “Ask the tin men.”

  Meta glanced sidelong at the two waiting androids. They looked human enough, but she knew the truth. Under the pseudo-flesh, they were composed of circuits, metal and cybertronic mesh. They also wore diving gear and carried weapons. They would be going into the tainted water to reach the prison complex and return with the captain.

  “There,” Keith said. “It’s in sight. Do you see?”

  Meta peered through the thick window at the underwater world. All she saw was gloomy murk. Not much sunlight made it through the ice.

  “No,” Keith said. “Don’t look out there, but here.” He tapped a radar screen with a green-glowing dot. The blue triangle on the screen was their mini-sub approaching the complex.

  “Are you sure our friend-or-foe signal is working?” Meta asked. “If our signal doesn’t match, the complex will launch torpedoes at us.”

  “Don’t sweat it, love. Everything is under control.”

  One thing about Keith, he always had an optimistic outlook. Meta wondered sometimes if she should try for the same thing.

  She smiled at the pilot, nodding. “This is going to work,” she said.

  “That’s the spirit,” Keith told her. “No more doom and gloom for you. Now—”

  “We have a problem,” the holoimage Ludendorff said.

  Meta jerked around in surprise. The holoimage was supposed to be with Maddox. Why had it returned? She peered at the ghostly form with distrust. Maybe the others had faith in the fake professor, but she didn’t.

  “What’s the situation?” Keith asked. “Why are you back?”

  “The authorities have used gas on Captain Maddox,” the holoimage said. “He’s unconscious in his cell.”

  Meta swore under her breath. She’d known something was going to go wrong.

  “Given these circumstances,” the holoimage said, “we must abort. I dare not risk Star Watch capturing my engrams.”

  Meta glanced at a strange device in the back of the cabin. The androids had brought it with them. Apparently, the holoimage Ludendorff stored its AI engrams in there, projecting the holoimage of the snotty professor a certain distance and no more. She had figured that to be one hundred kilometers, which gave the holoimage quite a range.

  Meta was sure the device was Builder tech of the first order. But it was signature Ludendorff to come up with something like that. He had been pulling stuff out of his rear since the day she’d met him. Why not a nifty little engram-holding box that could project a holoimage?

  “We’re not aborting the mission,” Keith informed the holoimage. “They have our captain and we’re going to set him free, as in right now.”

  “Negative,” the holoimage said. “I demand you turn back.”

  Meta had been waiting for something screwy to occur. She powered up the gloves so they purred with exoskeleton strength.

  “And since you are too emotionally invested in the rescue to calculate the odds correctly,” the holoimage said, “I am enforcing my desire.”

  Keith turned around.

  The two androids stood up, drawing small laser pistols, aiming them at the pilot.

  Keith shook his head. “You’re not seriously trying this.”

  “Reverse direction,” the holoimage Ludendorff said. “We will attempt a recue at another date.”

  “Yeah, right,” Keith said. “Once we’ve lost the element of surprise—”

  Meta whirled around. She was closer to the androids than Keith was. They began to target her. She grabbed an android hand in each power glove and squeezed, crumpling each weapon and each android hand. They attempted to react. She heaved, tossing the androids onto the deck. With lethal precision, Meta attacked the first one, disabling it with her power-gloves.

  “Stop at once,” the holoimage said. “They are irreplaceable.”

  The second android sat up, glanced at its ruined hand and reached for a knife with its good one.

  Meta didn’t give the android time to complete the maneuver. With the gloves and swift hand-chops, she smashed the pseudo-man back onto the deck. Then, she destroyed the face, deactivating it forever in a shower of sparks.

  “What have you done?” the holoimage cried. “They were the last ones.”

  Meta stood, her heart thudding with a rush of adrenaline. “If you don’t shut up and do exactly as I say, I’m going to smash your little box next. That will deactivate you. Is that something you really want?”

  The ghostly image studied her. “You are a bloodthirsty maiden, and you have ensured the mission’s ultimate failure. We needed the androids as commandos.”

  “Keith and I can do that,” Meta said.

  “Count me out,” the pilot said. “I’m not swimming in that radioactive soup.”

  “I’ll do this myself then,” Meta said. “And you’re going to show me the way in the facility,” she told the holoimage. “And if you’re thinking of saying no, realize that I’ll purge your box for good if you disagree.”

  “This is blackmail,” the holoimage said.

  “I’m glad you understand me,” Meta said. “It will save time. Keith, how long until we’re ready to launch?”

  Keith grinned as he shook his head in admiration. “You do realize they know we’re coming?”

  Meta shrugged. She was still charged from the fight. Yet, there was a small part of her—the reasonable part—that told her this was suicide. If the others knew they were coming, couldn’t they override the FOE signal and launch the complex’s torpedoes at them?

  “If you’re game, so am I,” Keith said. Then, he glanced meaningfully at the holoimage. “We’re going to hit them one-two.”

  Meta nodded thoughtfully.

  “What does that mean?” the holoimage asked, who glanced at each of them in turn. “Did you just use a coded phrase to hide your real intention from me?”

  Meta snorted as she opened and closed her power gloves. The AI in the box was almost as smart as the real Ludendorff. It had guessed right about Keith’s coded phrase just now. Galyan had suspected possible treachery on the holoimage’s part. Thus, they had a Plan B, which was what they were about to implement now.

  Still, would that stop the others from launching torpedoes?

  ***

  Lieutenant Noonan’s right hand hovered over the activation switch. She was on the starship’s bridge in the commander’s chair, with Galyan to her left.

  The Adok AI watched her. Had his probability analyzer predicted each of her possible actions? Galyan had been right about several critical factors already. The AI had guessed the invisible holoimage would be caught talking to Maddox and that the prison authorities would gas the captain afterward. Galyan had also predicted the AI Ludendorff’s reaction to all that.

  “The AI has acted with self-preservation utmost in mind,” Galyan had said.

  Valerie tried to understand that. The AI computer with Ludendorff’s engrams believed its primary motivation was self-preservation. Galyan had explained his reasoning, of course. The Ludendorff AI was Builder tech, which the hidden aliens absolutely did not want duplicated by primitive humans.

  Did that mean the Builders were behind this, or did it mean the real Ludendorff had been unable to disconnect that part of the box’s programming?

  “You have already committed yourself to the rescue,” Galyan told her.

  Valerie turned toward him.

  “You must know that I am correct,” Galyan said.

  “Do you remember what I told you about bragging?” Valerie asked in a dispirited tone.

  “I do,” Galyan said, “but that is not germane to your next decision. You must activate the emergency
protocol. Anything else will lead to ugly problems we do not want on our consciences.”

  “You have a conscience?” Valerie asked.

  The holoimage Adok appeared troubled. “That is an unkind dig, Valerie. Why do you attempt to cause me grief? For six thousand years—”

  “I’m sorry, Galyan. I shouldn’t have asked that. I’m…I’m nervous. I worked hard to get to this position. I hate the idea of throwing everything away by disobeying Star Watch.”

  “Delaying making a decision is still a decision. If you do not act promptly, Captain Maddox, Second Lieutenant Maker and Meta will all be imprisoned, possibly for the rest of their lives.”

  Valerie tapped the switch before sagging against the commander’s chair, listening to a klaxon blare. “It’s started,” she whispered. “There’s no going back now.”

  “Yes,” Galyan said. “Is it not exciting?”

  Valerie looked up at the main screen. The scattered islands of Greenland were directly below the starship. For the past few days, Valerie had delicately altered the vessel’s course so the starship would be at this location as if by accident.

  The klaxon continued to wail. The few remaining islands of Greenland disappeared from the screen. The handsome, worried face of Dr. Clifford appeared. He was in the main disruptor cannon chamber.

  The doctor ran a hand through his wavy blond hair. “Lieutenant, what seems to be the problem? What’s the emergency?”

  Valerie found that she couldn’t breathe. She didn’t want to say this. Straightening, she said in a strained voice, “You and your team must evacuate the starship immediately.”

  Dr. Clifford frowned. “I thought there wasn’t supposed to be any danger in Earth orbit.”

  “I know,” Valerie said. “I-I thought so too. It’s the reactors. A strange gas has begun to leak from their aft chambers.”

  “If you seal the bulkheads we should all be safe,” Clifford told her.

  “Under normal circumstances I would agree with you. But since none of us anticipated the danger, I keep wondering what else is going to go wrong that we aren’t aware of.”

  “But—”

  “Please, Dr. Clifford, you must hurry to the shuttle.”

  “No,” he said, “I’m going to stay at my post and—”

  Valerie took another breath. “This is an order, Doctor. I am ordering you and your team to evacuate at once.”

  Suspicion swam in his blue eyes. The doctor was as good-looking as they came, but it didn’t mean he was stupid. He would need another nudge.

  “The Home Fleet is already on high alert,” Valerie lied. “Look if it helps you.”

  Galyan sent Dr. Clifford a carefully edited video of Star Watch battleships closing in on Victory. It was old footage from the Oort cloud a couple of years ago. When Dr. Clifford reappeared on the screen, the man had become pale.

  “I’m on my way the shuttle, Lieutenant. Will you be joining us?”

  “I’ll use the next shuttle,” Valerie said. “There’s one more procedure I want to attempt. I have to go now. Good-bye, Dr. Clifford, it’s been a pleasure working with you.”

  “You say that as if we won’t see each other again. I’ll see you in an hour.”

  Valerie forced a pained smile. “Yes, an hour, two at most. Until then, Dr. Clifford.”

  She cut the connection, feeling more remote than before the call.

  Galyan stared off into space. It meant he was looking through the starship’s sensors. “I’m almost in position.”

  Valerie looked up. “Can you really do this?”

  “Theoretically, it should be no problem.”

  “That wasn’t the question.”

  “No,” Galyan said. “It was not. I suppose we are going to find out soon enough if I can do this. In ten seconds, I shall begin the insertion code.”

  ***

  Meta settled a full-face mask over her features. The idea of swimming in irradiated seawater troubled her. It was going to be cold, too. The suit was supposed to protect her from the harsh cold, but reality often proved different from theory.

  The craft lurched. She staggered, striking her shin against a bench.

  “We’re in position,” Keith radioed into her ear.

  “Roger,” Meta said. She entered a tiny chamber, turning a wheel. A light flashed, and seawater began to gurgle around her ankles. She stared down at the liquid. It rose fast. She closed her eyes, telling herself this was no problem. It would not take long.

  Don’t think about the pressure, all the water over your head ready to squeeze you into pulp.

  Meta opened her eyes and gave a small yelp.

  “What’s wrong?” Keith asked.

  Meta couldn’t speak. She stared at the water sloshing against her mask. This was just like spacewalking, right? So why was she freaking out about it already? This would be easy, easy…totally easy.

  “Meta?” Keith asked.

  “I’m here,” she said, sounding angry.

  “My board is showing that your chamber is flooded. It’s time to go.”

  “Yeah,” Meta whispered. She activated a switch. The outer hatch opened. Meta grabbed the edges and pulled herself through.

  She was in Artic water. With a switch, she activated her pack. It surged with power, propelling her toward a massive structure. Lights glared around it, a prison for some of the worst offenders on the planet.

  “Easy does it,” Keith said into her ears.

  Yeah, yeah, that’s easy for you to say snug in the sub.

  Meta knew that was an unkind thought. Several years ago, Keith had come down with Maddox onto Loki Prime, the worst prison planet in the Commonwealth. They had rescued her from a much worse situation than this. It had been a long and interesting road since then, including time spent with Kane, an agent of the New Men who had kidnapped her and taken her into “C” Quadrant.

  “Better slow down,” Keith said over the comm. “You’ll smash into the outer hatch if you’re going too fast.”

  Meta shivered, realizing she’d been daydreaming. Wasn’t that one of the dangers of deep diving? This was quite different from spacewalking. The water resisted her efforts.

  She slowed down as a hatch loomed before her. Getting into the prison—

  The hatch opened.

  Meta grinned inside her diving mask. Maybe this was going to work after all. Galyan had opened the hatch, at least. The AI was supposed to have hacked into the complex’s main computer. If it wasn’t Galyan helping her—

  Meta growled under her breath, kicking her feet, propelling herself into a chamber. The decisive moment was upon her.

  ***

  Meta hurried through the silent corridors. No one moved in the underwater complex. On the upper left of her mask appeared a small schematic of the prison. She followed the outline in red.

  She had a laser pistol, which she most certainly would use. Maybe it would be wrong to kill the Star Watch Marines in here, but Meta didn’t plan to go back to a prison planet ever. No one had better get in her way today. She wore body armor and—

  “There’s trouble,” Keith said into her earphones.

  “What are you picking up?” she asked.

  “Someone is moving in there, either that or my motion detector is off.”

  “How far are they from me?” Meta asked.

  “You’re not going to meet them right away, but it looks as if the person is headed for the captain’s cell. He must know why you’re there.”

  “It’s definitely a he?” Meta asked.

  “Don’t know about that. But you have to expect him to be armed.”

  “Roger,” Meta said. She increased her pace. “Is he wearing a gas mask?”

  “That seems like the best answer,” Keith said. “That means you’re dealing with a smart one. He must have seen the others dropping around him and realized we were gassing everyone—or that Galyan was, using their own security system against them.”

  “Great,” Meta said. She had a nasty thought.
What if this smart guy put a gun to the captain’s head and threatened to shoot him. That was the one way to stop the rescue attempt cold.

  Meta swore under her breath as she began to run.

  -15-

  Major Stokes stumbled through the corridors. He wore a gas mask as Meta had supposed. The brigadier had been right to suspect Victory’s old crew. Given that, the Iron Lady should have locked every one of them away.

  Sure, those people had done magnificently in the past, but that didn’t mean they got a free ride whenever they felt like it. One had to obey orders. Without rules, a society turned into competing tribes and a military became a useless mob.

  Star Watch would never defeat the New Men if Maddox and his people fell into an obvious trap. How could any of them be so softheaded as to fall for the Ludendorff holoimage? Clearly, Strand used the holoimage to lure the ancient starship to a place where he could board and capture it. The New Men had tried that at Wolf Prime. Gaining Victory would tip the military balance to the enemy. On no account could Stokes let that happen.

  It’s up to me to save the day. I can’t let my humanitarianism throw away our greatest advantage. I’m sorry, Captain Maddox and whoever is trying to rescue you. I’m simply not going to let that happen.

  Stokes wasn’t a musclebound soldier. He was lean, smoked too much and was maybe a little too old for games like this. But he trusted his mind, which he believed was one of the sharpest in Intelligence. If that wasn’t so, the brigadier wouldn’t trust his judgment to the extent she did.

  Maybe the others coming had the advantage in a purely tactical combat sense. He was trickier, though, and in the end, that was going to win down here.

  The major drew a gun as a grim sense of rightness hardened his resolve. If he had to, he would shoot the captain in cold blood. It wouldn’t be because he held any ill will toward the man. He rather admired the other’s resourcefulness. No, he would kill Captain Maddox because humanity’s fate might well rest on him doing so.

  ***

  Meta raced around a corner, seeing an open cell door down the corridor. According to the schematic, it was the captain’s cell. A hard knot squeezed within her stomach. The other had beaten her to the prize. What should she do?