The Lost Starship Page 37

  “We’ve made it this far,” Riker said.

  “What’s that?” Valerie asked.

  “We’ve made it this far, Lieutenant. We’ve done the hard work. Now we’re like a horse out in the pasture, racing to get home again.”

  “Well,” Valerie said. “In my opinion, we can’t do it fast enough. Now, if you’d find a place to sit, Sergeant. I’m going to sound the jump alarm.”

  He hurried to an alien chair.

  “Are you ready?” Lieutenant Noonan asked.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Riker said.

  Valerie sounded the alarm. A few moments later, they began the next jump.

  ***

  Captain Maddox’s stomach growled as he stood on the bridge. He was hungry and gaunt. Like Meta, his metabolism burned too hot.

  He studied the screen. The G class star waited three light years away, one more jump. They hadn’t detected any spacecraft in the system—not that he’d expected to. Starships were too small and quick to see from such a vast distance. The fourth planet of the star showed industrial technology but no radio waves. Could they be human emigrants from the Oikumene who had fallen back into barbarism? Had they forgotten how to make radios? It was beginning to look that way.

  Exhaling, Maddox glanced at the diminutive hologram on the panel beside the screen. It showed the alien commander from six thousand years ago, who looked human enough with his silvery matted hair and dangling arms. They still hadn’t gotten an answer for the tentacle-like control slots. The holoimage of the former commander didn’t look up at him, ever. Was that significant? Maddox hoped not but felt it must be.

  Dana had successfully enslaved the AI, which remained coded to his voice. None of the others could understand the holoimage when it spoke. That must have to do with the original brain scan. They hadn’t figured out how to replicate that, and the holoimage seemed to have forgotten what he’d done earlier.

  Lieutenant Noonan sat at her scanning station. Doctor Rich remained in the AI nexus. Meta, with Riker and Keith as helpers, tried to fix the main deflector shield generator. It refused to cooperate. That meant the starship had no screens, just its shredded hull armor. They had a single neutron cannon, which so far had proven to be enough.

  “We can’t face a star cruiser again,” Dana had told him.

  “Do you think they’re waiting for us?” Maddox had asked.

  “I think the New Men don’t give up easily. They must realize we escaped the alien system and how we did it. Yes, I think they’re hunting for us. We must be ready for the worst. They’re out there somewhere.”

  Maddox’s stomach growled loud enough so Lieutenant Noonan looked up. When their eyes met, she looked away.

  “Food,” she said.

  “I feel like a desperate predator ready to tackle a bull elephant for lunch,” Maddox said. “We may have to figure out how to use one of the shuttles and take it down onto the fourth planet.”

  “I volunteer to go,” Valerie said.

  “I believe I’ll be the one going down onto the planet,” Maddox said.

  The lieutenant looked up, shocked. “Sir, you can’t leave the ship now. You’re too valuable. No one else can speak with…it,” she said, using her chin to jut at the tiny holoimage.

  The thing gave her a fervent glance.

  “Sir,” Valerie said, “I think it knows what we’re—”

  “Lieutenant!” Maddox said, interrupting her. “Whatever you were going to say, don’t.”

  She grew pale, nodding quickly. “I’m sorry, sir. The thing gives me the creeps. It listens to us much too—”

  “Lieutenant,” Maddox said, “desist your line of reasoning.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said.

  “We’re about to jump,” he said. “We must be ready for anything. Think about that.”

  Valerie waited before saying, “This next jump is exciting and terrifying at the same time.”

  With his hunger, Maddox found it difficult to concentrate on anything but food. He’d finished the last of his rations. He could commandeer someone else’s, but he didn’t feel right doing so. If this star system failed to provide them with food…nothing else mattered anyway.

  “Inform the others we’re about to make the jump,” Maddox said.

  Valerie opened intra-ship channels and told the crew to prepare for the next use of the star drive. Then she got up, moving to a different station. There, using the thin rod to tap slot-controls, the lieutenant made the last jump to the new system.

  -41-

  The ancient starship Victory slid toward the fourth planet of the system.

  The G class star was eight percent larger than Sol. It had a similar luminosity and ten planets. The inner system contained four of those planets; the outer had five gas giants and a Pluto-like world. There were no asteroid belts or visible comets.

  “Well?” Maddox asked.

  “No artificial satellites orbit the fourth planet, sir,” Valerie said. “It has two small moons, which we already knew.”

  “Yes, I see those,” Maddox said.

  “The industrial index shows that the greatest concentration is on the approaching continent, sir, the one shaped like an octagon.”

  The starship was several hundred thousand kilometers from the fourth planet, about the distance of the Moon from Earth. It was a blue-green world similar to Terra. The octagonal-shaped landmass facing them radiated the most industrial signs.

  “I’m detecting nuclear power,” Valerie said, sounding surprised.

  “Good. What about radio waves?”

  “Nothing,” Valerie said. “I have no indication they know we’re out here.”

  “That seems strange,” Maddox said.

  “I agree, sir.”

  “Well, we need food. Start calculating an orbital entry above the planet.”

  “Sir?” the lieutenant asked.

  Maddox glanced at her, and then he remembered himself. He wasn’t on the Geronimo. This was Victory. “Sorry, Lieutenant,” he said. “Old habits die hard.” The captain thereupon gave his orders to the holoimage.

  The starship shuddered as the vessel’s engines applied power, slowing the mighty craft so it could soon enter planetary orbit.

  “We made it,” Valerie said. “We’re really here. I can hardly wait to see what kind of foodstuffs they have.”

  “Yes,” Maddox said absently. “We’re here.”

  “Is something wrong, sir?”

  “I wish our new starship had the instruments to sense the system’s Laumer-Points. How many tramlines run into this star system? How do they link with the others? Are the beings down there men or some new alien species?”

  “We’ll know some of the answers soon enough, sir.”

  A half-hour passed and the planet loomed before them.

  “Oh-oh,” Valerie said, as she studied her board.

  The words sent a shudder down Maddox’s spine. “What’s wrong? What are you sensing?”

  “There was something and now there’s nothing,” Valerie said quietly. She used her rod to stab controls. “If I were on the Geronimo, I’d know how to replay what I just picked up.”

  “What—”

  “It came from the nearest moon,” Valerie said, “the one swinging toward us.”

  “Computer,” Maddox said to the holoimage. That’s what he’d taken to calling it. “Did you pick up those readings?”

  “I did,” the tiny image told him.

  “What was it?”

  “A broadcaster,” it said.

  “Where did it broadcast?” Maddox asked.

  “Toward the inner planets,” the holoimage told him.

  “What—”

  “Sir,” Valerie said, with horror in her voice. “Look! That has to be the Saint Petersburg. I’d recognized its shape anywhere.”

  Maddox stepped toward her screen. He saw the familiar shape. The SWS destroyer used the smallest moon, accelerating as it swung around it. The warship sped at them. It would appear the enemy ve
ssel had been using the moon to hide from them.

  “Its laser batteries are charging,” Valerie said. “Do they mean to try to take us down, sir?”

  Maddox stared at the screen. Despite his hunger and the shriveled state of his stomach, his mind now moved at lightning speed. If the destroyer raced at them…it must have sent the broadcast signal toward the inner planets. That implied reinforcements, which in turn likely meant at least one star cruiser. If two enemy vessels were in this system, it stood to reason the New Men—maybe Per Lomax in particular—had deduced Victory’s state of ill repair. That would indicate the New Men had studied the nearby planets and made a calculated ambush site: where the alien starship would go. Either that was the case or the enemy had tracking systems able to cross light-years. That seemed improbable. Therefore, the New Men’s heightened intellect had probably reasoned out what their best chance of success would be against the ancient starship.

  In these precious seconds of lightning thought, Maddox realized humanity indeed faced its gravest challenge. These beings were supermen in every way.

  “What are we going to do, sir?” Valerie asked. “We can’t enter planetary orbit now. The Saint Petersburg will destroy us. If there’s a star cruiser nearby—”

  “We must replenish our food stocks,” Maddox said.

  “Not at the cost of our lives, sir.”

  Maddox blinked once, twice, three times before he laughed.

  “We’ll have to jump far away, sir,” Valerie said. “I don’t see what else we can do.”

  “Negative,” Maddox told her. “The enemy has just made his greatest mistake.”

  “Sir?” asked Valerie.

  “Computer,” Maddox told the holoimage. “Can you focus the neutron beam into a tighter ray?”

  The image didn’t answer.

  “Computer, I have asked you a question. Can you tighten the neutron beam?”

  “I can,” it said at last.

  “What are you planning, sir?” Valerie asked.

  “Sit tight, Lieutenant. Tell the others to do the same thing. We’re going to attempt fast maneuvers. Computer, you will reverse course and head for the nearby ship. Target its engines first and take them out. Then retarget its laser batteries and destroy them. On no account must you annihilate the vessel itself.”

  “The Saint Petersburg has a deflector shield, sir,” Valerie said.

  Maddox scowled in irritation. “Kindly shut up, Lieutenant, and let me think. I have to do this right the first time. There must be a star cruiser accelerating for us, maybe two. We cannot face them and survive.”

  The starship shuddered as the AI began to follow Maddox’s orders. The heavy braking almost caught the captain by surprise. He stumbled, grabbed a panel and thrust himself into a seat.

  The antimatter engines whined, and the antigravity systems made thumping noises. Victory no longer headed for a fourth-planet low orbit, but slowed until it stopped and began moving toward the moon and the approaching destroyer.

  “Enemy beams have reached the outer hull,” the AI said.

  “This is the tricky bit,” Maddox said. “We have to sustain a little more damage to win everything. Take out the destroyer’s engines.”

  “They are not yet in range,” the AI said.

  “Then get us in range, pronto!” Maddox said.

  Now began an uneven contest. The Saint Petersburg’s lasers were not those of a battleship or even a cruiser. Still, they were lasers, and by slow degrees the twin beams turned the outer hull red and then molten. Too soon, the lasers began chewing inside the starship.

  “I know you want me to shut up, sir,” Valerie said. “But we’re taking damage. Sergeant Riker just radioed and said the beams are near the antimatter engines.”

  Maddox nodded, accepting the report. He tapped a fist against a panel. “Come on,” he whispered.

  Explosions shook the ship.

  “Sir,” Valerie said, looking up in alarm.

  Maddox licked his lips.

  “We are in beam range,” the holoimage informed him.

  “Fire!” Maddox shouted. “Destroy their laser batteries first. Then take out the engines.”

  In a thin line, the purple neutron beam touched Saint Petersburg’s deflector shield.

  “Full power,” Maddox said. “Knock down the shield. Then focus the ray for sniper shots.”

  The heavy neutron beam blasted the destroyer’s shield. The enemy’s electromagnetic screen overloaded and went down all around the ship. At that instant, the AI refocused the beam, and it obliterated the enemy’s lasers.”

  Maddox snarled with glee.

  The neutron beam retargeted, and it killed the destroyer’s engine port.

  “Tell Ensign Maker to race to the bridge,” Maddox ordered. “I’m going to need his expertise.”

  “The destroyer is firing its point defense cannons,” Valerie said.

  Maddox ordered the AI to take those out, too, and it did in short order.

  By the time Ensign Maker staggered onto the bridge, Saint Petersburg’s escape pods ejected from the ship. The personnel were fleeing.

  “That’s all the proof we need a star cruiser is in the vicinity,” Maddox said. “Those people must be sure it will pick them up. Ensign, come here. You’re going to tell me exactly what to do. Lieutenant,” he said, turning to Valerie. “Tell Riker and Meta to suit up and grab their assault rifles. They’re going to form my boarding party.”

  “Ah…yes, sir,” Valerie said, sounding perplexed, “at once.”

  Maddox nodded, concentrating on the destroyer. One thing at a time, he told himself. I have to do this before the star cruiser gets into range and forces us to jump.

  ***

  Saint Petersburg’s escape pods headed away for deeper space. The empty destroyer raced for its collision with the fourth planet, fated no doubt to burn up in the atmosphere.

  Captain Maddox had other plans for the hijacked Star Watch vessel. Under Keith’s guidance, he ordered the AI onto an exact course. Halfway through the complex maneuver, Victory’s sensors picked up a star cruiser’s fast approach. It had hidden behind the third planet and now accelerated for them. Did that imply the New Men’s sensors had seen the starship coming before the last jump? It would seem so, and that had grave implications for the coming war.

  Victory raced in a long curving loop with the Saint Petersburg as its central pivoting point. The destroyer streaked past, heading for the planet. Finally, the starship completed the turning maneuver, aiming at the nearby world and following the empty craft.

  “Now,” Maddox said, striking a panel with his fist. “Give it everything.”

  Using full thrust, Victory sought to reach the destroyer before the Star Watch vessel hit the atmosphere. Both ships were perilously near the looming blue-green world. Every minute caused more of the planet to fill up the view-screen. Soon, the world would blot out all the stars.

  “We’re not going to be able to brake in time,” Valerie said.

  “You’re correct,” Maddox said. “Therefore, you will prepare for jump.”

  “Sir?” the lieutenant asked.

  “Remember the red giant? We jumped right through it. We must have entered hyperspace when we jumped, and the red giant wasn’t there. That’s what we’re going to do here, jump before we reach the planet’s atmosphere.”

  Ensign Maker laughed with delight. “I love it, sir. It’s a brilliant plan.”

  Maddox grinned as he kept his eyes on the screen. The starship began overtaking the Saint Petersburg. Still, this was cutting it much too finely.

  “Sir,” Valerie said. “The star cruiser is hailing us.”

  With a long stride, Maddox stood behind her chair. “Put him on,” he said.

  A moment later, Per Lomax stared at Maddox. The New Man maintained his haughty poise. Then, if it was possible, the enemy commander straightened even more.

  “The present encounter between us means nothing in the larger scheme of our conquest,” Per
Lomax informed the captain.

  “Oh no, of course not,” Maddox said, sarcastically.

  Per Lomax stiffened. “You would do well to remember this, Captain. My coming retribution will be hard and exacting.”

  “I have an idea,” Maddox said. “Let us reason together. You hunted me once and failed. In fact, you’re still carrying a scar from the bullet that knocked you to the ground on Loki Prime. If you take those factors—”

  “You fail to realize how wrong you are,” Per Lomax said, interrupting. “I have no scar. Our bodies are many times more efficient than yours are. We heal perfectly. No. For you, the game is over, as you are already dead. In your case, you simply lack the sense to know it. Good-bye, Captain Maddox. In futility you struggled against me, and now you have failed as it was fated to occur.”

  The burning question about his origins rose to Maddox’s lips again. He shook his head, refusing to ask the New Man. Maybe they would meet again someday. Maddox tapped Valerie on the shoulder. She cut the connection.

  The captain returned to his station. The holoimage looked up at him. The simulacrum’s eyes seemed to gaze with intensity.

  “The star cruiser has almost reached its outer beam range in relation to us,” the holoimage informed him.

  “We can’t do anything about that,” Maddox said. “So I want you to ignore the cruiser for now.”

  “Noted,” the holoimage said.

  Keith shook Maddox’s shoulder. Once the ace had his attention, the younger man told him the next maneuver.

  The destroyer headed for the atmosphere. At the same time, the starship’s main bay doors opened. Like a Great White shark, it came behind the destroyer. Instead of jaws, Keith Maker used Victory’s open bay as a maw.

  “We have to do this exactly,” Keith said, with his eyes fixed on the view-screen.

  Maddox related the ace’s instructions to the AI.

  While traveling at great speed, the starship scooped up the destroyer, seeming to swallow it whole. Because Victory moved faster, Saint Petersburg smashed against parked alien shuttles and interior bulkheads. The entire starship trembled violently from the collision.

  Maddox shook in his chair, waiting for the outcome. Were they dead? Was Per Lomax right? No! The destroyer finally came to a halt inside the starship. The shaking and metallic screeching stopped.