The Lost Colony (Lost Starship Series Book 4) Page 24

  One thousand light-years—that was incredible. He didn’t doubt the lieutenant. The technology for such a leap…these must be Builders. Maybe the creature speaking to him was a Builder. But then why did its ship only have heavy lasers?

  There was something else. Had the thousand light-year transfer tube swept up Port Admiral Hayes and his people? That seemed like the most obvious answer.

  “Does the enemy vessel possess a shield?” Maddox asked.

  “The same kind as a star cruiser, sir,” Valerie said.

  “The same strength, too?” the captain asked.

  “Maybe fifty percent stronger,” Valerie said. “Oh-oh,” she said, “they have burn-through.”

  The enemy beams punched through Victory’s shield to strike the collapsium hull armor. Collapsium was the best armor anywhere, made of collapsed molecules. That made the hull armor incredibly dense.

  The beams where they hit turned the collapsium red. They continued to strike in one area. A slug of collapsium wobbled off the hull, floating away. The lasers were digging deeper.

  “Our cannon is online, sir,” Galyan said.

  “Excellent,” Maddox said. “Fire at will until the enemy ship is destroyed.”

  The antimatter engines built up power. Then, the disruptor beam shot from Victory, reaching across the fifteen thousand kilometers to strike the enemy vessel.

  The disruptor cannon was much more powerful than a mere laser, even a laser seven times stronger than one on a SW battleship. The disruptor beam turned the enemy shield to brown almost right away.

  “Sir,” Valerie said.

  Maddox waved her to silence. He didn’t want any warnings about this. Either their beam chewed into the enemy’s innards first or the enemy did it to Victory. It was a simple equation with only one winner and possibly two losers.

  “If these are Builders,” Galyan said, “why is our weaponry superior to theirs?”

  “You think they’re Builders?” Maddox asked.

  “It is the most logical answer, but it isn’t conclusive.”

  Maddox watched the disruptor beam strike the blackening shield. The enemy ship dwarfed theirs, but it wasn’t anything like the alien Destroyer. He did not sense vast age, either. There wasn’t a feeling of evil to the spacecraft. Of course, he wasn’t as close to it as he’d been to the Destroyer.

  “Look,” Valerie said, her voice quivering. “There’s a fifth laser. Sir, we’re in danger of a burn-through to the hull. Maybe…maybe surrender is better than destruction. If Professor Ludendorff is here, we can still bargain, can’t we?”

  Maddox shook his head. He wasn’t surrendering his ship one thousand light-years from the Commonwealth. He would either win through or die. He did not believe—

  “Yes!” Keith shouted, slapping the piloting board. “We’re through. Now you’ve had it, you bastards.”

  The powerful disruptor beam swept past the enemy’s blackened shield and struck hull armor. It was some metallic alloy but definitely wasn’t collapsium. In seconds, the beam smashed into the interior saucer. The beam ignited breathable air, causing interior explosions.

  Valerie shouted the news as she used her sensors to probe for further data.

  Vast batteries blew aboard the enemy vessel, causing more explosions. Reactors melted. Others burst into nova flares. Sections of enemy hull armor shuddered. Explosions erupted on its outer skin like volcanos. They spewed shredded metal, air, radioactive material and clouds of water vapor into space. All the while, the disruptor beam continued to slice into the giant saucer. Entire sections of hull armor now burst away. Then, for a moment, the vast spaceship vibrated wildly.

  “It’s finished, sir,” Valerie said.

  Seconds later, a titanic explosion blew the vessel apart. An intense white light consumed much of the substance. Heat, blast, gamma and X-rays traveled outward in an ever-expanding circumference.

  “A-ha, mate!” Keith shouted, banging the piloting board with a fist. “You suckered us down your hole and that’s what you get. That’s what you get. Bugger off, you bastard, Ludendorff.”

  “Here it comes,” Valerie said.

  The gamma and X-rays struck the shield, making it buckle and turn a dark brown. Auto-defense cannons blasted at the largest chunks of following debris. Galyan used the neutron beam to take down the biggest dangers.

  “Let’s move,” Maddox said.

  Keith’s fingers flew across the board. He made the sluggish starship twist out of the path of masses of debris, but he couldn’t dodge everything. Like a wave, the expanding junk struck the shield. The engines whined as they pumped extra power to the electromagnetic defenses.

  “The shield is holding, sir,” Valerie said.

  Maddox watched, absorbed at the extent of the destruction and the possible deathblow the enemy ship was attempting to deal them after the fact.

  Galyan had been analyzing the matter. “Captain,” the holoimage said. “I suggest this is a more serious danger than we could have reasonably expected.”

  “Continue,” Maddox said.

  “I believe the enemy…intelligence knew it was defeated. It added munitions of hell-burner strength to its destruction, attempting to defeat our shield after its demise.”

  “It would appear you’re correct,” Maddox said.

  “I can understand the maneuver,” Keith said. “But it’s dirty just the same. We beat them after they tricked us down their tube. The least they could have done was die with dignity.”

  “There is no dignity in dying,” Maddox said.

  “Sir?” Keith asked.

  Maddox turned to Galyan. “Are there any more saucers nearby?”

  “Negative, Captain.”

  “Lieutenant, turn on the Laumer Drive. I want to get out of here while we can. Let’s find the transfer tube.”

  “Yes, sir,” Valerie said.

  The aftershock of the destroyed saucer had passed on. They’d survived the deadly gamma rays and debris. The heat from the blast dissipated the quickest, posing the least danger.

  “Nothing so far, sir,” Valerie said.

  “Let’s move to the region of the destroyed ship,” the captain said. “I suspect the entrance is there. Galyan, keep scanning for approaching vessels. We don’t want another surprise like that.”

  “Affirmative,” the AI said.

  Keith worked quickly, moving the starship, turning them back toward the late enemy vessel.

  “Is the Laumer Drive still on?” Maddox asked.

  “Of course,” Valerie said. “I’m still not picking up anything, though.” A half minute later, she added, “What if it’s a one-way tube?”

  Maddox shook his head. “I don’t accept that. Continue to scan.”

  Ten minutes later, it was clear. The Laumer Drive had failed to discover the entrance back into the one thousand light-year tube.

  “Sir,” Galyan said. “My analyzer has computed the odds. The highest probability by many factors tells me we are stuck here. It will be years, if ever, that we return to the Commonwealth. Given such a situation, what are your orders, sir?”

  -29-

  Maddox carefully leaned his back against the command chair. His features were impassive. He could feel the gravity dampeners’ pull against his flesh. Despite his vaunted vigor, he felt tired. Maybe everyone did.

  “Turn off the Laumer Drive, Lieutenant,” he said, calmly.

  “Begging your pardon, sir,” Valerie said. “But I suggest we try a little longer.”

  “We will use our reason and regular sensors to find the answer,” the captain said. “For the moment, however, we are stuck one thousand light-years from the Xerxes System.”

  “Sir,” Valerie said, giving him a stricken look. “We can’t give up looking. If it’s years before we return home—”

  “We will not remain out here years,” Maddox said, confidently. “I assure you of that.”

  Valerie blinked at him. “But if there’s no opening—”

  “Lieutenant,
” Maddox chided. “I expect my officers to use their reason. We cannot find a tube, or whatever the jump technology was that transported us across the vast distance. That might seem disheartening. But we also haven’t seen the silvery swirl that indicated the entrance the first time.”

  Valerie tilted her head. It took a few seconds before a smile twitched into place. “You’re right, sir. The silvery swirl had indicated something must have turned on the…the tube for us to use.”

  “Such is my own belief. According to Galyan, the Nexus had beamed certain signals into the area of the whirlpool. Our Laumer Drive simply showed us a little more clearly what the Nexus had already opened. The conclusion seems obvious enough. We must find another Nexus in order to create another thousand light-year tube.”

  “I have been running an analysis,” Galyan said. “I believe we traveled through hyperspace, for want of a better term. But we moved through a tunnel or tube. That would have made it a hyper-spatial tube. That is how we traveled such an extreme distance in a short amount of time.”

  “Hyper-spatial tube,” Maddox said. “Good. Now we have a name for it.”

  Valerie exhaled. “We must find another Nexus. Yes. That means we’re not marooned.”

  “I never thought we were,” Keith said.

  “That’s because you’re a lunatic,” Valerie told him.

  Maddox cracked his knuckles. “We destroyed the enemy waiting for us, one enlightened about our coming by Ludendorff. That would indicate the professor is in this star system. I suggest we find him.”

  “And twist his scrawny neck,” Valerie said. “Why do you think he turned on us, sir?”

  “An excellent question,” Maddox said. “One I plan to discover. Lieutenant, begin scanning the dim star. Galyan, I expect you to search for evidence of life. I want to know everything about the system. We’re going to make whoever is responsible for our predicament rue the day he tampered with a Star Watch vessel.”

  ***

  The information began to gather. Victory had entered the system along the outer edge in a Neptune-like range compared to the star, meaning they would have to travel billions of kilometers to reach the inner system. There were no planets, no asteroids, no comets, apparently no Kuiper belt or Oort cloud or any debris of any kind—except for the expanding matter of the destroyed vessel.

  “The lack of comets, of any stellar dust seems odd,” Valerie said. “Our Sun acts like a giant vacuum cleaner, using its intense gravity to pull every comet and particle of dust to itself. But the process takes an incredibly long time, which is why the Solar System still has plenty of comets and space debris. The lack of comets and dust here suggests one of two things. This is either an incredibly old star system—the dim star might point to that—or it’s like the asteroids of the Xerxes System.”

  “Groomed,” Maddox said, nodding thoughtfully.

  “Yet, to groom an entire star system so there are no dust particles left would entail an incredible amount of work.”

  “It would also indicate high technology,” Maddox said, softly.

  “That’s just it,” Valerie said. “The vessel we defeated shows a lack of such high technology.”

  “The saucer-vessel is not conclusive evidence,” Galyan said, “although it is certainly an indicator.”

  “Right,” Maddox said. “Mr. Maker, you will increase our velocity toward the star. Since there’s nothing else here, I suspect that’s where we’ll find our answers.”

  Keith tapped his board.

  “I will increase the intensity of my scan for cloaked vessels and hidden habitats,” Galyan said. He froze afterward, his eyelids fluttering.

  The captain’s excitement faded as time passed. He was tired and the laser wound still bothered him. Finally, he closed his eyes.

  “If I snore,” Maddox said, “don’t bother waking me. We’ll begin to work in shifts. We’ll also remain on the bridge, each taking catnaps in turn. We don’t know how long it will be until the next emergency.”

  “Do you expect something bad to happen, sir?” Valerie asked.

  “With Ludendorff in the mix I do.”

  Neither Valerie nor Keith replied. The tiredness seemed to leap up and yank Maddox down to slumber.

  “Captain!” Valerie said. “Keith! I’ve found something incredible.”

  Maddox lurched awake, leaning forward. It felt like seconds since he had closed his eyes. His focus went to the main screen. Everything looked the same.

  “How long have I been out?” he asked.

  “An hour and a half, sir,” Valerie said, as she studied her board.

  Keith snorted, lifting his head off the piloting panel.

  Maddox glanced at Galyan. The holoimage was still frozen, although his eyes fluttered faster than ever.

  “I know why the star is dim,” Valerie said. “It also explains why there aren’t any planets, comets, anything in the system.” She pointed at the faint star. “There’s a Dyson sphere around it.”

  “Never heard of a Dyson sphere,” Keith said. “What is it?”

  “Exactly what it sounds like,” Valerie said. “A giant sphere built around a star. The sphere captures the star’s entire energy output. Given that the Builders manufactured an atmosphere inside the sphere and that it’s one AU out from the star, it has 550 million times the square footage as Earth.”

  “Come again,” Keith said.

  “Think about it,” Valerie said. “It’s a giant, hollow ball built around the star. The surface is the same distance from the star as the Earth is from the Sun. That means all the area in a circumference is habitable. That’s a lot of land. In fact, it is 550 million times the amount of land on Earth, and that’s including the oceans.”

  “Give me a second,” Keith said. “You’re saying that isn’t the star. That’s the glow we’re seeing of what shines through of the material surrounding the star?”

  “Correct,” Valerie said. “And that’s why there aren’t any planets here.”

  Keith shook his head. “Why?”

  “Think of it as a construction project,” Valerie said. “The Builders needed material to put around the star. But 550 million square kilometers more than the Earth’s surface is…vast. Where did they get all the stuff? Easy. They tore down the system’s planets, comets, everything, using that matter to build with.”

  Keith whistled. “That would take fantastic technology.”

  “Or a lot of time,” Valerie said.

  Keith scratched his head. “One thing bothers me. Where would they get enough people to fill up the sphere?”

  Valerie thought about it, soon shrugging.

  “Was the saucer’s robot going to send us there?” Keith asked.

  “I believe so,” Maddox said. “Recall. It said we were going to board a launch and head to the habitable sphere. Now we know where it meant.”

  “Something that vast…” Keith said. “We have our proof, eh. The Builders must have made the sphere.”

  “The logical deduction,” Maddox said.

  “And it’s one thousand light-years from the Commonwealth,” Keith added. He turned to Maddox. “Sir, Ludendorff knows about the Builder sphere.”

  “This changes everything, doesn’t it?” Valerie asked. “The magnitude of what we’re seeing. It makes the New Men a flyspeck of a problem.”

  “I disagree,” Maddox said. “The robot demanding our surrender said Ludendorff had given it the protocols.”

  “So?”

  “How was Ludendorff able to do that?” Maddox asked. “It would suggest he was in charge, not the Builders.”

  Valerie shook her head.

  “Consider the Destroyer,” Maddox said. “It was ancient, with an ancient Builder creature trying to control it. Yet, everything seemed rundown, as if the makers hadn’t been around for quite some time.”

  “So…?”

  “The Builders have left vast monuments of their time,” Maddox said. “We haven’t seen a Builder, just the things they left lying a
round. Maybe the Dyson sphere is on the same order. Once, the Builders ran it. Now, who knows if it’s just a relic of past glories?”

  Valerie thought about that. “Okay. I see what you’re saying. But something’s going on in the pyramid on Earth, right?”

  “It is,” Maddox said. “But who’s running the something, Builders, Ludendorff, Strand or New Men? From what I’ve seen these past years, I’ve begun to suspect that humanity is late to star voyaging. Others have gone before us. Maybe the galaxy used to swarm with intelligent life. They’re all gone now, or mostly gone. We’re the slow ones who finally showed up after everyone else quit playing.”

  Valerie peered at the main screen. “I don’t like your hypotheses, sir. It’s eerie.”

  “That may be,” Maddox said. “But is it correct?”

  Keith had become thoughtful. “Are you saying Ludendorff is in the Dyson sphere?”

  “It seems quite possible,” Maddox said.

  “Then I say let’s go get him and make the bastard pay for all our troubles,” Keith said. “I’m sick of his games.”

  “Going after him is one possibility,” Maddox said. “Maybe it’s even the wisest course.”

  “It’s why we went to the Xerxes System,” Valerie said.

  “Yes,” Maddox said. “But I’ve begun to wonder. Maybe we can find something useful here in our war against the New Men.”

  Valerie stared intently at the captain. “Hearing you say that…you really think we can get home again.”

  “I’ve never doubted it for a minute,” Maddox said.

  An uneasy smile appeared on the lieutenant’s face. It dropped away a second later. “This is all theory.”

  “A theory that seems to fit the evidence,” Maddox said.

  The three of them fell silent, studying the dim star, the incredible Dyson sphere.

  “I have an announcement to make,” Galyan said. “I have been deep scanning for some time. Now, I have conclusive proof. Port Admiral Hayes’ flotilla is orbiting the Dyson sphere by a few thousand kilometers.”

  Valerie clapped her hands. “Have you contacted them yet?”

  “That is the only negative to my report,” Galyan said. “I have been hailing them for some time, and have received no replies. It would indicate the crews are unconscious, their equipment is wrecked or that the vessels are devoid of people.”