The Lost Patrol Read online

  I’m getting too old for this excitement. Let someone else risk his bones to babysit the captain.

  “That’s odd,” Keith said.

  “What is?” Riker asked, not liking the sound of that.

  “See those hangar bay doors?” Keith asked.

  The lieutenant pointed at something outside the shuttle’s blast window. The Cestus hauler had become huge, a long spaceship with numbers on the sides. Riker could read the word Marius III. The vessel dwarfed Victory, which was one of the largest fighting craft in Star Watch.

  “Do you see it?” Keith asked. “It’s between the last two Roman numerals.”

  Riker squinted, and then he berated himself. Sitting back, he blinked twice in quick succession, activating one of the bionic eye’s features. The image leaped forward. Oh, yes, he saw the hangar bay now. The two doors were opening.

  “What’s unusual about the hangar bay?” Riker asked.

  “That they’re opening,” Keith said.

  “That’s what they’re supposed to do in order to let us in.”

  “Right,” Keith said. “Now, you’re getting it.”

  “No,” Riker said. “I’m not.”

  “When was the last time we did something for the captain that was as easy as that?” Keith asked.

  Riker muttered under his breath. The boy was right. Nothing ever came easy following a Maddox directive.

  Keith burst out laughing.

  The noise made Riker frown.

  “You’re too easy, mate, do you know that? Don’t be so nervous about this. It’s an empty hauler. If we get into trouble, I’m out of here. This will be a cinch.”

  Riker stared at the lieutenant. Had he ever been that young, that cocky? No, he told himself. I was born old.

  ***

  The shuttle slid through the doors into a huge hangar bay. Riker looked around suspiciously. Below on the deck sat squat cargo shuttles. He didn’t spy any robots or carryalls moving containers.

  “It feels dead,” Riker said.

  Keith shrugged. “I’m parking us over there next to the hatch. My autocannons are hot. If anything challenges us—boom, they’re toast.”

  Riker stood so he could see more of the hangar bay. This reminded him of the Dyson sphere. That had been some voyage, a year ago. He never wanted to do anything like that again.

  Riker’s eyes widened as true fear bit his heart. He had always been a lifer. This is what he did. But if he wanted to get out…he would cause himself to start having a short-timer’s luck. That would mean this would be his last mission because he would die on the hauler.

  I’m in for the long run, Riker told himself. I’m going to die in the service but of old age, not battle wounds.

  “You all right, mate?” Keith asked.

  Riker jerked in surprise.

  “You’re pale,” Keith said. “Did you eat something bad this morning?”

  For a beat, the sergeant stared at the cocky pilot. Then he muttered under his breath, putting on his helmet and sealing it to the suit.

  Keith shrugged, tapping his controls, taking the shuttle down.

  ***

  Riker floated weightless down a large hall, pulling himself along the float rails. Behind him followed the Marine squad. They headed for the hauler’s bridge. Despite their Marine training for this, he had done more space walking than they had, which is why he led the way.

  The sergeant kept checking the schematic on the inner lid of his visor. Galyan had overridden the hauler’s controls, using a technique learned on their last voyage. According to the Adok AI, nothing was amiss on the vessel. Nothing moved. Nothing lived, and no electronic system had activated in any way.

  Riker still didn’t like it. He didn’t trust this. Something was wrong on the ship. He had instincts about these things. Androids had tried to trick the captain. Everything had been too easy about this raid, and that struck him as wrong.

  “You are approaching the bridge,” Galyan said through the suit comm.

  “Be alert,” Riker radioed the Marine sergeant.

  “Roger,” the Marine said, a young man by the name of Hank Towns.

  Hank sounded nervous. Riker knew the kid was fresh out of training. No wonder he was nervous. This was just great. He had to babysit wet-behind-the-ears Marines.

  Riker’s grip tightened around his blaster.

  “Sergeant,” Galyan said. “I sense movement near you.”

  “What?”

  “It simply started up,” Galyan said.

  Riker saw something coming around the corner and shouted a warning. He pulled the trigger a second later. A harsh beam radiated from the blaster.

  From behind him, Marine autocannons opened up. Both the blaster and heavy shells obliterated a robot trundling around the corner on treads.

  As he fired, Riker tightened his grip on the float rail so the blaster beam wouldn’t send his weightless body backward.

  The Marines must have magnetized themselves to the deck. They remained rock-steady as they obliterated the robot.

  “Stand down!” Hank shouted. “Cease firing!”

  Riker stopped shooting, too. Pieces drifted off the robot as the shredded body demagnetized and began floating.

  “Is there a bomb in the thing?” Riker asked.

  “I’m not reading anything off,” the tech specialist said, looking at a recorder.

  “Was the robot a threat?” Hank asked Riker.

  “It was moving, and it shouldn’t have been,” Riker said.

  “Roger,” Hank said. “Stay loaded,” he told his men.

  Riker scanned the corridor. The floating pieces bothered him. With a soft grunt, he forced himself to move. They needed to reach the bridge.

  The sergeant carefully floated past the debris of battle. Not only had he boarded a Dyson sphere one thousand light-years away, but he’d been on the alien Destroyer with Maddox. That, too, had been a harrowing experience.

  Why was it that boarding actions never got any easier? The threat of the unknown, the threat of immediate death, made one wish he was anywhere else but here. Maybe doing this made life sweeter because he appreciated being alive afterward.

  That was something the captain would say. Riker hoped the young lad wasn’t rubbing off on him. The old were supposed to teach the young, not the other way around.

  “I see the bridge hatch,” Hank said.

  “Roger,” Riker said thickly.

  “Do you expect trouble?” Hank asked.

  “I always expect trouble.”

  The Marine sergeant snorted.

  “What’s so funny?” Riker asked.

  “That’s something my DI would have said.”

  Riker nodded. “Your DI was a smart man.”

  “No. He was a bastard,” Hank said, with a touch of real dislike in his voice.

  That caused Riker to cock his head. Had they shipped a troublemaker onto Victory? Riker made a mental note to keep his eye on the young Marine sergeant.

  “Do you have the entrance code, Galyan?” Riker asked.

  “Just a moment,” the AI said. The hatch slid open.

  “Fire!” a startled Hank shouted.

  Autocannons opened up.

  “Stop!” Riker said. “Galyan opened the hatch, not the ship.”

  “Cease fire, cease fire!” Hank shouted.

  The autocannons quit firing. Sparks showered inside the bridge as smoke drifted lazily.

  “Thanks,” Riker told Galyan.

  “What are the Marines firing at?” Galyan asked.

  “You surprised us with the hatch,” Riker said. “We’re all keyed up. You should have told me what you were going to do.”

  “This is interesting psychological data,” Galyan said.

  “No, it’s—”

  “I have noted the occurrence,” Galyan said. “In the future, I will warn you before I act.”

  “Thanks,” Riker muttered.

  “You are welcome, Sergeant Riker. It is good to be appreciated.”<
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  The sergeant rolled his eyes and propelled himself forward. He drifted through the hatch onto the Marius III’s bridge. A few panels still sparked, but there was no more smoke as damage control units had activated on the boards. Fortunately, the shot-up area was relatively small. Lights blinked elsewhere, and a large screen showed space and the Earth below, with the continent of Australia visible.

  “We’re on the bridge,” Riker said. “Give me a few minutes, and I’ll secure the ship.”

  “Shall I inform the captain?” Galyan asked.

  “Give me a few minutes first.”

  Riker went to several boards, tapping them, testing each. The tech specialist did likewise on other panels. The minutes passed, but neither man found anything suspicious.

  “All clear,” the tech specialist said.

  Riker nodded. “We’re secure on the Marius III,” he told Galyan. “You can tell the captain.”

  A few seconds later, Galyan said, “The captain is on his way. You are to remain on the bridge until he reaches you.”

  “Will do,” Riker said. He shut off the comm for a moment and breathed a sigh of relief. This time, it really had been easy, a piece of cake. He could use a few more like these.

  “We’re waiting for the captain,” Riker told Hank.

  The Marine sergeant nodded his helmet.

  Riker sat in a chair and tapped a panel. He turned on gravity dampeners, bringing pseudo-gravity to the entire vessel. That had been the captain’s orders. Then, Riker swiveled his chair and stretched out his legs for a well-deserved breather.

  ***

  Three minutes and twenty-three seconds after artificial gravity powered up throughout the Marius III, a hidden hatch rose. After a short span, the hatch slid shut again, although nothing visible had emerged.

  -10-

  Maddox felt a heady sense of anticipation as the shuttle neared the Marius III. The gigantic hauler had been in deep space. What had happened out there to cause everyone to seem to want to capture or eliminate him? He suspected the New Men, possibly Strand or maybe even another Builder.

  Maddox eyed the hauler’s lettering. He’d been in Patrol training for too long. It was good to be in the field again doing Intelligence work.

  The truth was that Patrol duty had begun to sound tedious to him. According to his instructors, crews spent endless weeks traveling from one star system to another, recording stellar data for Star Watch. The ads and brochures encouraging young men and women to join the Patrol made it sound much different. Maybe a part of Maddox had begun to believe the exciting propaganda. Patrol school had cured him of that, causing him to wonder if he’d made a mistake.

  “Are you sure you want to board the hauler?” Meta asked.

  Maddox blinked himself out of his reverie. “Yes,” he said. “Board it.” He could see the open hangar bay from here.

  Shu cleared her throat.

  Maddox swiveled around to face her.

  The small Spacer shook her head. “Boarding the hauler is unwise.”

  Maddox was curious. “Do you have a premonition regarding the ship?”

  The small woman shifted uncomfortably before saying, “The Cestus Company is tainted by evil.”

  “Evil? That’s a strong term.”

  “An accurate term,” Shu said. “But to answer your question, yes, I have a premonition. Androids have traveled in the hauler.”

  “How do you know?” Maddox said.

  “I know because the ship is tainted.”

  “I’m curious regarding the process that lets you know these things. I’d like to acquire the ability.”

  “You mock me,” Shu said.

  “On the contrary,” Maddox said. “I’m jealous of your gift.”

  Meta scowled at her controls.

  Shu became thoughtful. “Yes, it is a gift. Some possess it and others do not. I’m surprised that a di-far doesn’t inherently feel the taint.”

  “Can you describe the sensation?” Maddox asked.

  “Oh, yes,” Shu said. “My stomach tightens and there is pain behind my eyes. The evil lurking on the ship causes the sensation. I also know that the evil is directed at you, Captain.”

  “You can’t know that,” Meta said scornfully. “You’re just nervous. Being nervous doesn’t give you heightened awareness.”

  Shu fixed her goggled gaze upon the Rouen Colony woman. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

  “You’re faking all this to try to impress the captain,” Meta said.

  “No,” Shu said. “There is a real taint to the hauler, and it is causing me grief. You should not set foot on the ship, Captain.”

  Meta couldn’t let it go. “I never knew that Spacers were superstitious.”

  “We’re not,” Shu said. “We are the most rational race in Human Space, practical in the extreme. If we have developed certain of our senses that the rest of humanity has continued to let atrophy—”

  “Can you be more specific regarding the danger?” Maddox asked, hoping to nip the verbal fight in the bud.

  “You don’t really believe her, do you?” Meta said.

  “It’s not a matter of belief,” Maddox said, “but of testing a theory. Let us see what she predicts and compare it to what happens.”

  Meta glanced from Shu to Maddox before concentrating on her controls once more, bringing the shuttle closer to the hangar bay.

  “Why won’t you believe me?” Shu asked the captain.

  “Who says I don’t?”

  “You’re boarding the hauler,” the Spacer said. “I have warned you not to board it.”

  “Precisely,” Maddox said. “If this tainted evil exists, I want to find and interrogate it.”

  “That is rash,” Shu whispered.

  Maddox made a bland gesture. “I am di-far. Could you expect any less from me?”

  Shu’s brow wrinkled. “I had not thought of it that way.”

  Meta rolled her eyes, tapping the controls harder than seemed necessary. The shuttle also seemed to head down faster toward the hangar bay than seemed prudent.

  Maddox buckled in. Riker said the hauler was secure. Galyan hadn’t found any hidden agents, and the AI had used the hauler’s own security systems to run the checks. Yet, Kane had once come to Earth on a Cestus hauler. The trick would be tracking down the hidden controller in its own lair, always a dangerous prospect.

  Maddox glanced at Shu. Could she truly sense things? Was she like the Visionary? Shu had claimed a different bloodline. Did that make any difference? What could a Visionary really see anyway?

  -11-

  Maddox spoke with Riker on the Marius III’s bridge. The captain had seven Marines and Meta in combat armor, along with Shu, Riker and himself in vacc suits.

  “Galyan hasn’t spotted anything unusual since the robot suddenly activated,” Riker reported.

  “What about the radiation leakage earlier?” Maddox asked.

  “Vanished,” Riker said.

  “The signature was meant to lure you here,” Shu said.

  They spoke with their visors shut, even though regular air cycled through the chamber. It might have been a needless precaution, but the captain had insisted.

  Maddox eyed the suited Shu, the open hatch and the corridor beyond. “Galyan, are you monitoring the situation?”

  “I am,” the AI said.

  “Do you sense any movement within the Marius III?”

  “Negative.”

  “You know,” Meta said. “I rode with Kane in a hauler like this. We stayed in a hidden chamber and slipped out unnoticed in a shuttle. That was near the Xerxes System. Maybe there’s another chamber like that in the Marius.”

  “I would have discovered such a chamber,” Galyan said, “as I have full access to the hauler’s security cameras and to the Marius’s specs. There is no such hidden location in this hauler.”

  “What if the builders kept a hidden spot like that secret from the hauler’s computer?” Meta asked.

  “I can begin a full
scan of the ship to double check,” Galyan said.

  “Yes,” Maddox said. “Do it.”

  “Scanning…” Galyan said, “Scanning…”

  Shu jerked around.

  Maddox noticed. So did Meta.

  “Captain!” the small Spacer said. “There is grave danger here.” She ran and then dove in front of Maddox.

  From the outside corridor, a blot of energy appeared. It sped at the captain. Shu 15 intercepted the shot with her body. The blot of force sizzled through her vacc suit, blowing a hole in it and knocking the small Spacer backward so she rolled across the deck.

  Sergeant Hank Towns reacted, opening up with his suit’s autocannon. A second later, the other Marines did likewise. Some of the shells shredded portions of corridor. A few slammed against something invisible out there.

  “What the hell?” Riker said.

  “Cease fire,” Maddox ordered.

  Hank repeated the command, shouting at his Marines.

  Maddox had already drawn his long-barreled gun. Riker had brought it over from Victory. He charged through the hatch in time to see a ghostly humanoid-shape shimmer into existence on the deck. Next, sparks played along the ghostly suit. Then, an explosion caused the air to sizzle. A tall man in a suit appeared as he lay on the deck. He held a weird-looking carbine and his helmet visor had a crack running down the middle.

  The autocannon shells had damaged the suit, but none of them had breached its integrity.

  “Armored stealth suit,” Maddox whispered.

  The person in the suit twitched, twitched again and began to sit up. Whoever it was must have seen Maddox. He raised the weird carbine.

  Maddox fired rapidly, knocking the weapon away so it clattered onto the deck.

  “Should I kill him?” Hank asked, aiming his autocannon at the intruder.

  Maddox glanced back. The Marine sergeant stood to his left. “No,” he said. “Physically subdue him.”

  “Come on, boys!” Hank shouted. “Don’t let the bastard move.”

  The Marines piled onto the enemy. Some grabbed legs, others arms. They hoisted the person airborne, making sure feet and hands couldn’t move. The person tried to twist free, but the marines’ powered-armor servos made that impossible.