The Lost Starship Page 25

  Maddox silently agreed. If it could last for just another day… This was supposed to be the end of the line for them. One more jump would bring them to the sentinel-haunted star system. Doctor Rich had told him a song and dance about how to get into the alien system intact. Could it really be true?

  “You do realize that we won’t be able to follow the doctor’s suggestion now,” Valerie said. “We can’t, not with the destroyer in the system.”

  Slowly, Maddox stood and his features stiffened. The past weeks had eaten away at his reserve. The endless chase, the running away again— “Use the passive sensors only,” Maddox said. “Keep searching for the comet. Instruct Meta to babysit the cloaking device. We can’t let the destroyer see us this time, not a smidge or wattage of power to give away our location.”

  “I’m not sure I can do that, sir. The Saint Petersburg’s crew has gotten better at their craft.”

  “True. But you’ve also gotten better, Lieutenant. We’ve both become experts at this cat and mouse game.”

  Valerie paused before asking, “Captain, why do you think Doctor Rich still refuses to help us one hundred percent?”

  A hard smile pasted itself onto his face. “That’s a good question. I’m about to discover the answer.”

  Like a tiger, Maddox stalked out of the control room. Keith lounged against a bulkhead. Jerking a thumb at the open hatch, Maddox said, “I’m done. You can go back.”

  A possibly sarcastic reply died on Keith’s lips. He nodded before moving out of the captain’s way.

  Maddox hardly noticed. He marched to the doctor’s hatch and swung it open. Letting it stay ajar, he climbed into her quarters.

  The doctor was in the middle of doing push-ups and she mustn’t have heard him enter.

  “You must decide,” Maddox told her.

  Her head swiveled sharply toward him. A brief twitch of her face was the only indication she’d been surprised. The doctor jumped to her feet. Perspiration dotted her brown skin.

  He opened his mouth. This was it. He wouldn’t accept anything less than total assistance.

  Panting, she held up a hand. “I’ll save you time, Captain. Your sensors haven’t found the equipment because it’s buried too deep under the ice. Ludendorff was a tricky man, and he suffered from a persecution complex. It served him well on most occasions. Ah,” she added, after searching his face. “I take it the New Men are in the system with us.”

  Maddox was too angry to reply verbally, nodding instead.

  “You’re in something of a dilemma, then,” Dana said. “Therefore, I believe I’ll finally play my strongest card.”

  “Meaning what?” he asked in a thick voice.

  Dana’s gaze darted behind him.

  Maddox could feel the threat to his rear. In a flash of understanding, it struck him what was about to happen. The strain of the monotonous weeks had taken their toll on his concentration. The voyage had been out of his comfort zone. It had told on him, making him reckless and causing him to miss otherwise obvious clues. It appeared as if Doctor Rich had finally outmaneuvered him.

  With a twist of his neck, Maddox looked behind. Standing in the hatchway, Meta held a stunner aimed at his back. He expected to see a triumphant smile. Instead, worried concentration marred her beauty.

  Meta motioned with the stunner. Maddox raised his hands.

  “Oh, I like this, I really do,” Dana told him. “Yes, I find it rewarding to see a difficult task through to completion. Don’t you find that to be the case, Captain?”

  He watched her gloat.

  “What do you propose?” Maddox asked.

  “A new arrangement,” Dana said. “You are hereby demoted to wretched piece of Star Watch scum. I am confining you to these quarters. I, on the other hand, am accepting a promotion to ship’s captain. What do you think?”

  Maddox turned, putting his back to Doctor Rich to face Meta. “You know we’re in danger,” he told the Rouen Colony woman. “You’ve seen the New Men hunting us. Humanity desperately needs the sentinel.”

  “Please,” Meta told him, “no more talking, Captain.”

  Staring into her eyes, Maddox said, “I freed you from the prison planet.”

  “I don’t want to do this,” Meta said. “You have to believe me.”

  “Then don’t do it,” Maddox said. “Make the right decision.”

  As her eyes tightened, Meta pressed the trigger.

  The blast struck Maddox in the chest. He strove to remain conscious but felt himself falling…falling…

  I’ve just lost control of my ship.

  ***

  Maddox groaned. His head was pounding. The taste of sand made his mouth incredibly dry. He unglued his eyes, and he realized someone had been shaking him and calling his name.

  “Sir, I wish you’d wake up.”

  “Riker?” whispered Maddox, with his eyes still closed.

  “Ah, that’s good, sir. He’s coming around,” Riker called. “You were out for some time, sir.”

  Maddox forced himself to open his eyes. Blurriness made his stomach heave, and he almost threw up.

  “Easy, sir, take it easy.”

  “Did Dana and Meta put you in here with me?”

  “Ha-ha!” Riker laughed. “Not an old hound like me, sir. Not on your life. I think I know what happened. You’re not used to grubbing it, sir. But me, you see, I’m a sergeant. Someone is always telling me to do this or do that. It’s hardened me to privation, it has.”

  Maddox rubbed his forehead. “Where’s Doctor Rich? Where’s the scout?”

  “I’ll start with the last question first, sir,” Riker said. “The scout has moved beyond the T dwarf and is headed for the thickest clot of the comet field. The lieutenant doesn’t believe anyone over there on the destroyer has seen us yet. I believe Meta is examining the vacc-suits and powerdrill. Once we land, she plans to go outside and dig for Professor Ludendorff’s hidden engines and atomic fuel.”

  That didn’t sound right. Meta the traitor was still running free in his ship? “What are you talking about?” Maddox whispered.

  “Well, sir,” Riker said. “As I was trying to tell you, I’m an old space hound. I also happen to be a very suspicious man. I’ve been watching. This one old eye sees pretty good, sir.”

  “I’m sure that’s true, but would you please get to the point.”

  “Sometimes, I even see quicker than a genius. That’s how I spotted the Tojo bodysuit back in France, remember?”

  “Yes,” Maddox said wearily. “That was an excellent piece of deduction. Now would you kindly get to the bloody point, Sergeant?”

  “Don’t go straining yourself, sir. You’re still weak from the stunner blast. I’m still finding it hard to believe Meta did that. Not that she got the drop on you, but that she actually pulled the trigger. I think we should punish her, but maybe a reward is more in keeping with her latest action.”

  Maddox closed his eyes. His sergeant had gained a coup over him. The man wouldn’t go on like this otherwise. Riker liked to boast even as he pretended not to.

  “Do you want to hear what happened, sir?” Riker asked.

  “I’d be delighted.” Maddox opened his eyes again and found that the blurriness had departed. He lay in Dana’s abandoned room, on her cot.

  “Well, sir, I peeked out of my quarters, and I saw Meta and Doctor Rich come out of hers. Meta looked crestfallen. The doctor strutted like a gambler pulling in a hard-won pot. In a beeline, she headed for the control room. Not to put too fine of a point on it, sir, I stepped out of my room. I stunned Meta first. It took a strong blast to bring the lady down. Then I aimed at Doctor Rich. Well, first I blasted the gun in her grip so it clattered onto the deck. She cradled her hand as if she wanted to scream with agony. She didn’t scream though, not her. No, sir, that woman can talk faster than you can run. She told me all sorts of gibberish, threatening and promising all in one breath. It made me smile inside.”

  “I can imagine,” Maddox said. He notice
d that Riker was smiling openly now.

  “I didn’t get fancy. Well, the hand-stunning was a trick shot like you might have done. After that, no sir, no more fancy pants with a dame who had outsmarted Captain Maddox. I knew she was too dangerous for an old codger like me. So I just shot her with the stunner, and I did it again as she lay on the deck, in case she was faking.”

  “You didn’t harm her, did you?” Maddox asked, worried he’d lost the doctor.

  “Ah, that’s what I love about you, sir. You’re so solicitous about your enemies that you forget to ask how your boon companions are feeling.”

  “Let us rectify that, Sergeant,” Maddox said. “How are you feeling?”

  “Good, sir, very good indeed,” Riker said.

  “Splendid. It does my heart good to know it. I have a few questions, though. Do you believe you can answer them quickly?”

  “I do indeed, sir.”

  “How did you, or we, the crew, discover which comet held the professor’s secret supply of spare engines and fuel?”

  “Meta told us—that was her positive action I’ve been trying to tell you about. The guilt of shooting you loosened her tongue. She’s decided to pitch in with us all the way, after all. It seems she and the doctor had been communicating in secret for the past few weeks. Ain’t that interesting, sir.”

  Maddox said nothing.

  “At the moment, Doctor Rich is on the robo-doctor. I used the computer and found the formula to an old-style truth serum. It’s an underhanded way to do this, I know, and beneath us to—”

  “What did you say?” Maddox asked, interrupting.

  “Truth serum, sir,” Riker said. “I read up on the computer how to make the right formula.”

  Maddox closed his eyes. He’d been a fool and overlooked an obvious solution. It galled him, but not as much as letting Meta knock him unconscious. He knew that becoming overconfident was a problem with him. This time, he’d paid for it with a headache and wounded pride. Thank God for a good man like Sergeant Riker to back him up.

  With his eyes closed, Maddox said, “I congratulate on you on your cunning and forcefulness, Sergeant. You have single-handedly saved the expedition and possibly humanity as well.”

  “Keep talking, sir. I like the sound of this.”

  Even though it hurt his head, Maddox grinned. He opened his eyes once more and swung his legs off the cot. Dizziness threatened. He heaved up to his feet nonetheless.

  “To work, Sergeant,” Maddox said.

  “We’re already working, sir. I think you should rest a little longer.”

  “No. Everyone must pitch in. We lost the luxury of time a while ago.”

  As if to punctuate his thoughts, Ensign Maker looked into the room. “Captain, sir, you’d better come to the bridge. I mean the control room. According to Lieutenant Noonan, the destroyer has increased its acceleration above its safety limit maximum.”

  -28-

  Keith followed an unsteady Captain Maddox to the control room.

  Upon entering, the captain stopped and stared. Keith climbed through the hatch after him. Meta sat in the captain’s usual spot. Maddox looked straight at her.

  Lieutenant Noonan swiveled around. She didn’t bother with the captain, but gave Keith a meaningful glance. He nodded and headed for the pilot’s chair. Once he’d strapped in and assessed his board, Keith turned and found the captain still glaring at Meta.

  Finally, the former Rouen Colony miner dropped her gaze. She gave her head a quick shake. It made her long hair cascade behind her.

  “I don’t expect you to understand…sir,” Meta said in her pleasant voice.

  Keith never got tired of studying her, the way she walked or listening to her talk. It defined logic that she’d captured him on Loki Prime, had manhandled him, in fact.

  Would you call what she’d done womanhandling me? Sure, a few bodybuilding women can bench press more than I can, but to just push me around so easily…

  The crazy part was that he still recalled her grip, the way her breasts had mashed against his back while she’d forced him through the jungle. What would she be like in the sack?

  “I lived on Loki Prime for four terrible years,” Meta quietly explained to Maddox. “Living there changes you. Well, maybe not you, but it did me. Dana…she saved me from some grim predators. I owed her, Captain.”

  “I understand that part,” Maddox said.

  “I shouldn’t have shot you.”

  “No,” he said.

  “To pay for my…action, I’ve decided to help you more directly,” Meta said.

  “You decided this after Sergeant Riker shot the doctor?”

  “I did,” Meta admitted. “I don’t expect you to trust me now.”

  “You’re wise to realize that,” Maddox said.

  Lieutenant Noonan cleared her throat.

  Maddox tore his gaze from Meta. “What is it?” he asked the lieutenant.

  Valerie pointed at her view-screen. “I think you ought to look at this, sir.”

  In two strides, Maddox reached her station. He squinted as he examined her screen. “They’re moving fast.”

  Keith craned his neck to get a look. The destroyer had accelerated from its Laumer-Point in the inner system, heading out here. Now, the Saint Petersburg’s exhaust had lengthened farther behind itself then any of them had ever seen before.

  Why are they coming so fast all of a sudden? Keith wondered.

  The Geronimo had traveled to the edge of the outer system, past the T dwarf and its many moons. They’d reached the system’s back comet cloud. There were a lot of them out here. An unstable Laumer-Point waited even farther out. According to the professor’s star chart, that tramline would take them into the alien star system.

  “We’re over three billion kilometers from the Saint Petersburg,” Valerie said. “Even at their velocity, it’s going to take the destroyer a couple of days to reach here.”

  “I can see that,” Maddox said.

  “I still don’t think we should use our fusion thruster,” Valerie said. “We’re cloaked, drifting at our present velocity. Before the Saint Petersburg entered the system, we braked with the fusion engine. We still need to slow down even more.”

  “We can use the gravity generator,” the captain said.

  Keith winced. He hated the way dumping gravity waves shook the ship. The Geronimo had taken far too much stress throughout the voyage. He was afraid they might shake something permanently loose. If they did, no one was coming to rescue them. This was deep into the Beyond. They were so on their own it wasn’t funny.

  Rubbing his hands together, Keith knew fear and excited elation in the pit of his stomach. This was the reason for existence: doing the crazy thing. They’d been waiting for this moment for months of travel.

  “We can hide from the Saint Petersburg,” Valerie told Maddox. “Any of those comets would make an excellent spot. After landing, we shut down almost everything and become a dark object. Of course, it would be even better to land on the right comet.”

  “Which one is that?” asked Maddox. “It could take years of searching to find Professor Ludendorff’s stash.”

  “That’s where my apology comes in,” Meta said.

  The captain straightened, regarding her. “You can tell us which one it is?”

  “From hints Dana dropped,” Meta said. “Yes, I think I know which comet. I only have one request.”

  Maddox said nothing.

  “When all is said and done,” Meta told him, “you spare the doctor.”

  Keith wondered what the captain was thinking. The man was proud, and Dana and Meta had beaten him. Slowly, Captain Maddox nodded.

  Drawing a deep breath, Meta told the lieutenant the needed coordinates.

  “Ensign Maker,” the captain said. “We will use the gravity generator to continue deceleration. Then, you will land the scout on the comet.”

  “With our wounded generator,” Keith said, “that won’t be easy.”

  “Are
you capable of the task?” the captain asked.

  “Oh, yes, Captain, sir,” Keith said, puffing out his chest. “It’s the reason I was born.”

  Maddox grinned. Keith liked that about the man. He could be a stuffed shirt and then change into a cunning devil.

  “I’m glad to hear it,” the captain said. “Lieutenant, plot the exact course. Then we’ll see if our scout can slip onto the comet without the Saint Petersburg noticing.”

  ***

  Later, after the second use of the gravity generator, Keith flexed his fingers. He sat with a straight back in the pilot’s chair. His focus was glued to the flight screen.

  For the umpteenth time this trip, he wished he were in a strikefighter. Piloting wasn’t as enjoyable locked in the same room with everyone else. To float alone among the stars while popping his head next to the fighter’s canopy was far more freeing.

  Keith double-checked the scout’s velocity and its relation to the approaching comet. Behind them, one hundred million kilometers away bulked the massive T dwarf. Its pull affected them more because the ship dumped gravity waves. If he’d maneuvered with the thruster…

  Keith cracked his knuckles. “Ready, sir?” he asked.

  “Take us down, Ensign,” Maddox told him.

  Grinning from ear to ear because he felt nervous, Keith began to use the gravity generator with greater flexibility and control than he’d done before. “A bit at a time, sir,” Keith explained.

  The ace eased the Geronimo lower toward the comet, which traveled around the T dwarf in a giant elliptical orbit instead of around the system’s star. The comet was a dirty snowball, composed of ice, rock and bits of miscellaneous debris. For its size, the thing didn’t have a lot of weight. What he didn’t want to do was land so hard it cracked the snowball. Even worse would be to break it into pieces as if hit by a billiard ball. That would be a dead giveaway to the destroyer where the scout had gone.

  “Easy does it,” Maddox told him.

  “No worries, sir,” Keith said. “This will be a piece of fluff.” He didn’t feel that in his gut, but why let them know. This was his specialty. He would see them through.