The Lost Planet (Lost Starship Series Book 6) Read online

  Maddox clung to the helm, breathing raggedly. He saw the point of light expand. Or maybe the starship drew closer to what had once seemed like a pin-dot in the blackness.

  That gave the captain a tiny extra something. He used the infinitesimal surge of strength to sit up and pilot the vessel. The light had become intensely bright. Some of the brightness seemed supernatural; it seemed as if the light seeped through the outer hull and bulkheads.

  Maddox shielded his face with an arm because the brightness began to hurt. He cried out as everything became intensely white. He wanted to get to the Junkyard Planet. He wanted to reach the place…

  Before he could complete his thought, Maddox slumped forward, unconscious. At the same time, Starship Victory passed through the intensely bright light.

  -23-

  Maddox wrinkled his nose, inhaled sharply and sneezed. That made his body shift and caused his head to slide across the piloting board.

  With a start, Maddox sat up. His vision blurred. He rubbed his eyes and tried to recollect what had happened. He found it hard to remember. There had been a struggle, a dark planetoid with tractor beams—

  “We catapulted using the slingshot effect,” he whispered.

  Maddox took his hands from his eyes. The blurriness departed. He saw the bridge crew sprawled on the deck or draped over their stations. A few of the people stirred.

  There was light in here. That seemed—

  The memories flooded back. Maddox recalled the darkness, the energy drain, the Destroyer, two Destroyers and the terrifying light. The starship had passed through the light…

  Lieutenant Noonan sat up. Her hair was a mess. She ran her fingers through her hair, rubbed her face—she twisted toward the captain.

  “What happened?” she asked in a thick voice.

  Maddox surged to his feet. He tugged his uniform straight. “Are your sensors working?” he asked.

  Valerie stared at him a little longer, finally turning to her panel. She tapped hesitantly. A few areas turned on. She tapped with more authority.

  “We’re no longer in the same star system,” she said.

  Maddox doubted she referred to the ‘shadow realm,’ as Galyan had called it. She must mean the star system with the Rull Juggernaut.

  “We broke free of the tractor beams,” Valerie said. “That’s good news.”

  “How far are we from there?” Maddox asked.

  Valerie used two hands on her panel, tapping, cataloging and studying. Finally, she shook her head. “I have no idea where we are—wait. I take that back.” She tapped more and looked up sharply. “Sir, if this is correct—” The lieutenant swallowed audibly. “We’re thirty-eight light-years from our last location.”

  “You mean with the Juggernaut?” Maddox asked.

  “This doesn’t make sense. How could our ship travel thirty-eight light-years? Our star-drive jumps are usually three light-years long, rarely much more.”

  “It is a mystery,” Maddox said. “We can solve it later. At the moment, I want to know if there are any threats to Victory in this system.”

  “Yes, sir,” Valerie said, going back to studying her sensor board.

  Others began to stir. A flickering holoimage appeared, looking around as it coalesced.

  “Captain,” Galyan said. “You did it!”

  Maddox motioned for Galyan to remain silent.

  Valerie swiveled around. “What did he do?”

  “He brought us out of the—”

  “That will be all, Galyan,” Maddox said. “Could you see to Professor Ludendorff? I would like him on the bridge on the double.”

  “Yes, sir,” Galyan said, disappearing.

  “What did you do, sir?” Valerie asked, looking at him strangely.

  “Brought us out of danger, I suppose,” Maddox said. He turned to the pilot and asked the man a question.

  A second later, Valerie resumed scanning.

  That allowed Maddox to go to the other personnel, inquiring about their physical and mental conditions.

  Galyan reappeared shortly. “The professor is on his way.”

  Maddox nodded absently.

  “I’m putting up my findings,” Valerie said. “The second planet is strange. It has an Earthlike atmosphere, but that doesn’t make any sense given the readings.”

  Maddox examined the main screen. The system had a G-class star, four terrestrial planets, seven gas giants, two asteroid belts and an extended Oort cloud.

  “How far are we from the second planet?” Maddox asked.

  “Approximately three billion kilometers,” Valerie said.

  “What is the second planet’s composition?”

  “That isn’t the issue, sir. It’s the planet’s shell. It’s completely metallic.”

  Maddox turned to Valerie. “What does that mean?”

  “What makes it even more perplexing,” Valerie said, as if she hadn’t heard the captain’s question, “is the high-quality metals that make up the shell.”

  Maddox absorbed the thought. “Are you suggesting it’s an artificial shell?”

  Valerie nodded. “I hadn’t thought that far, but that makes sense. Yes. The second planet has an artificial metal shell. Large areas are rusted, and—”

  The lieutenant’s eyes widened. She tapped her panel. “Sir, this star system—it’s at Ludendorff’s location for the Junkyard Planet. Could the second planet of this system be our destination?”

  A strange sensation passed through Maddox. It left him feeling uncomfortable. It was the same sensation he had if he thought too long about the universe having no end or the Creator having always existed. It left him feeling insignificant, something he despised.

  How could they have reached the Junkyard Planet like that? The coincidence of reaching here from the shadow realm seemed…impossible.

  “Helm,” Maddox said. “Commence taking us to the second planet. Weapons, keep everything warm. We found the Juggernaut waiting for us earlier. Who knows what this system holds?”

  Maddox eyed the main screen. Whatever else happened, he wasn’t going to let anyone take the starship by surprise again.

  -24-

  The hatch opened. Maddox turned as the professor stepped onto the bridge.

  “You requested my—” Ludendorff stopped talking as he looked at the main screen. “The Junkyard Planet,” he whispered. “We made it. I-I hadn’t expected the journey to be this easy.”

  Maddox shifted his stance as he put his hands behind his back. The journey hadn’t seemed easy at all. What else had Ludendorff expected to attack them?

  “The lieutenant’s sensors show a metal shell,” Maddox said, keeping his thoughts to himself.

  “Yes, certainly,” Ludendorff said. “I spoke about that earlier.”

  “Indeed you did not,” Maddox said.

  “I’m sure I have. Yet…” Ludendorff frowned at the captain before approaching the main screen.

  “I don’t believe the Rull ever controlled the planet. It was Builder protected. I’m a little hazy on a few points. It was a world. By that, I mean a normal civilization once controlled the planet and the star system. The race developed an overly mechanistic society, building, molding and expanding with ruthless zeal. In the end, they paved or built over the normal dirt and rocks, erecting roads, bridges, buildings—the metal shell that now rusts below us.”

  “They were normal,” Maddox said, as if tasting the words. “What does that even mean?”

  “The planet was earth-like, and the aliens were humanoid. I visited here centuries ago in my earliest days. It was very different then. The last Builder androids moved openly here. I recall from that time rumors of ancient artifacts stored deep within the planet. It was a Builder storage area, so to speak.”

  “You suggested the planet or star system could be dangerous,” Maddox said. “Could you elaborate on those dangers?”

  “I suspect many traps, many devices like the Juggernaut. We should advance upon the second planet with extreme cautio
n.”

  “Post a yellow alert,” Maddox told Valerie.

  The lieutenant manipulated her board, sending out the message.

  “You said the long-range scanner will be inside the planet,” Maddox said. “Can you be more specific?”

  “We need to find the Hall of Mirrors. In it, according to the android I questioned on Titan, will be a second passage of sorts. It will be an elevator down to a deep core mine.”

  Maddox shook his head.

  “The deep core mine is one of the methods the aliens used to power the planet’s industries,” the professor explained. “A deep core mine taps the planet’s core, using the thermal energy.”

  “You are quite the fund of knowledge…suddenly,” Maddox said.

  “I should begin my preparations,” Ludendorff said, ignoring the barb. “Have you decided who will go onto the planet?”

  Maddox took his time answering. “We will do this the Patrol way, which means I’ll use probes first.”

  “We may not have time for a lengthy and cautious approach.”

  “You surprise me, Professor. One minute you urge caution. The next you counsel haste. Is there something you wish to share with me?”

  Ludendorff chuckled ruefully. “This is…an historic occasion. I’m nervous, I admit. I’d never thought to come back here. My teacher…”

  “This sounds interesting.”

  “It’s not,” Ludendorff said. “I had an android teacher long ago. It was a Builder creature through and through. My journey here was part of my original education. Before the Space Age, the British aristocrats used to send their children on a Grand Tour. That meant a tour of Europe. It was part of their education. My Grand Tour was considerably grander. I toured throughout this portion of the Orion Arm, seeing many civilizations. I never thought to come this far again—not with the mysterious Rull creating greater difficulties.”

  The professor clapped his hands. “If you’ll excuse me, Captain, I have much to do before we go down.”

  Maddox let him go. They needed the professor, but the Methuselah Man clearly had his own agenda. Their encounter left the captain thoughtful. He took his chair, considering various tactics regarding the professor.

  -25-

  Starship Victory eased toward the second planet. During the final approach, Galyan asked for the privilege of naming the system. Maddox granted it to the AI.

  Galyan named it the Pandora System for obvious reasons. They came seeking artifacts. What would they find when they opened the box?

  That consumed everyone’s mind.

  Lieutenant Noonan was in charge of the first planetary survey. She launched the probes, and then her team studied the results. They grew anxious about the findings. Finally, Maddox held a briefing.

  There were a few more people in the conference chamber this time. Those included a space marine lieutenant, a bio specialist and a xenologist. A tense feeling built as they waited for the captain to open the meeting. Most of them had already heard the news. The surface portion of the mission wasn’t going to be a cakewalk, but not for the reasons anyone had suspected beforehand.

  Maddox nodded to Valerie.

  “This video is from the third probe,” the lieutenant said.

  A holoimage appeared above the table. First, there was a gleaming almost smooth-seeming surface far below. A few wispy clouds were in the way. The wisps vanished as the probe descended. The metallic ground-color soon gave way to large rusty patches that spread as the probe entered lower into the atmosphere. Finally, individual towers and block buildings appeared.

  “Crazy,” Keith said. “It looks as if someone nuked the place.”

  Everything was a ruin, with girders sticking out like broken bones. There were busted autobahns, rusting vehicles and many, many whitening skeletons. There was no open ground anywhere, just a vast ruin of a one-world city.

  “What’s the air like?” Meta asked.

  Valerie manipulated a control, glancing at numbers flashing along the bottom of the holoimage. “The air is breathable but will probably taste like copper. The probe did detect toxic pockets like thick fogs, and it detected minute particles of biological agents drifting in the air.”

  People traded glances as if they knew something weird was coming.

  Meta squirmed, asking, “Any sign of life?”

  A few around the table held their breath as they waited for the answer.

  “Indeed,” Valerie said. “The first two probes found biologically formed waste product.”

  “Do you mean shit?” someone asked quietly.

  “That’s an uncouth name for it,” Valerie said primly, “but accurate. The second probe analyzed one such mound of waste product and found a troubling amount of animal tissue in it. That would seem to indicate the feces of a predatory animal.”

  “Did you find any visual signs of life?” the marine lieutenant asked.

  “Oh, yes,” Valerie said, glancing at Maddox. “That’s coming soon.”

  Everyone grew more tense, more interested.

  “There,” Keith said in a breathless voice. “I see it.”

  Others did, too. A few gasped. One man cursed quietly.

  A muscular humanoid creature with a pink tail and elongated talons burst out of a sewer opening. At least, it might once have been a sewer opening. The creature ran on all fours, moving fast like a greyhound. At the last moment, it stood up in what seemed a difficult maneuver. Like a chimpanzee, it could walk on two legs, but neither elegantly nor easily. The creature launched itself at the probe, landing so it shook the machine and the recorder. Its talons ripped at the probe. Everyone saw talons splinter and break off, but the creature did not lessen its maniacal assault.

  “Look,” Keith said. “More are coming.”

  Three more of the hairless humanoid beasts rushed the probe. Soon, they too clawed and attacked the device. At some unseen signal, the newcomers turned their assault on the creature that had broken many of its talons. The spectacle was brutal. The others tore apart the first one. It happened fast, with each creature ripping meaty chunks out of the weakening creature.

  Soon, the newcomers quarreled like hyenas over the remains of the slain humanoid. That allowed the probe to lift off. The three gazed upward at the probe, their faces bloody, fresh meat visible between their fangs.

  At that point, something glinted in a tower window. A dark streak zoomed at the probe and—

  The holoimage over the conference table abruptly quit.

  “A shooter destroyed the probe,” Valerie said into the silence.

  “What were those creatures?” Keith asked. “Do we have any idea?”

  “Unfortunately, yes,” Ludendorff said. “I recognize them.”

  “What do you call them?” Keith asked.

  “I should modify my statement,” Ludendorff said. “Once, its kind would have been known as a Vendel. They are the race that created the industrial planet.”

  Maddox wondered why Ludendorff hadn’t told them that earlier.

  “Were the Vendels like that when you were here?” Keith asked.

  “On no account,” the professor said. “They were a kind race, cultured and slow to anger. They were smaller, less bestial and—”

  Ludendorff glanced at Maddox. “I think I know what happened to them and their planet.”

  “Don’t hold us in suspense,” Valerie said. “This is horrifying. What caused your peaceful race to turn into cannibal monsters?”

  “You said you detected toxic traces in the air…?” Ludendorff said.

  “This is the toxin’s composition,” the lieutenant said, putting the formula on the holoimage.

  Ludendorff stood, leaning closer to the holoimage. “Interesting,” the professor said, shortly. “This confirms my suspicion. I don’t know who did this, probably an alien race, most likely the Rull before they perished. I would not discount the Builders, although it does not seem to be their…hmmm, style.”

  “Professor,” Maddox prodded emphatically. T
he more Ludendorff had a captive audience, the more he liked to draw out his explanations.

  “This is a fascinating possibility,” the professor said. “It is also grim and inhumane. But I cannot conceive another explanation that holds together so well.”

  “What are you talking about?” Valerie asked.

  “Someone appears to have…hmm, sprayed the planet with toxins. In this instance, I believe a DNA-mutating substance. That caused the Vendels to mutate into what we have just witnessed. They regressed into brutal—”

  “Zombies,” Keith said, interrupting. “Their enemies turned them into zombies, into foul, cannibalistic creatures that will attack anything that moves. Do you think they’ve devoured everything else on the planet?”

  The professor scowled at the small Scotsman. The scowl softened as the professor considered the question. Finally, he shrugged.

  “I suppose your poetic term fits loosely enough,” the professor said. “Yes. They are zombies, ghouls, cannibals, whatever term you prefer. The waste evidence seems to indicate the creatures overran the planet.” Ludendorff faced the captain. “The creatures might boil out in their hundreds, possibly in their thousands. Landing and searching the interior of the planet has just become many times more risky than I’d anticipated.”

  “Don’t worry,” the space marine lieutenant said in a deep voice. “I can take care of them.” He was a blocky man with a blond crew cut, thick muscles and a hard quality to his face but especially to his eyes. A year ago, he’d fought New Men on the ground. He was one of the few to have lived to tell about the encounter. His name was Karl Sims.

  “Even if you’re wearing exoskeleton marine-armor,” Ludendorff told Sims, “you will not defeat a thousand such creatures.”

  “Some heavy shock grenades would flatten your thousand,” Sims said. “A flamer would take care of the stunned beasts in short order.”

  Valerie shuddered. “That’s brutal.”

  Sims did not reply.

  “I do not have the same faith in firepower,” Ludendorff told Sims. “These creatures—”

  “What about the shooter?” Meta asked, interrupting. “Who was he? He couldn’t have been a mutated Vendel.”