The Lost Earth (Lost Starship Series Book 7) Read online

  “Yes, yes, that makes sense.”

  “When we finally tore away, the starship must have moved like a stone from a slingshot.”

  “Possibly,” Ludendorff said.

  “Whatever it did, that propelled us into this null region. Everyone fell unconscious there but for Galyan and me.”

  “I would imagine I should have stayed awake as well,” Ludendorff said.

  “But you didn’t,” Maddox said. “I think I remained awake because… Not to put too fine a point on it, I have superior reflexes and metabolism. You have a few superior properties, but you’re old these days.”

  Ludendorff’s eyes narrowed.

  “Galyan remained awake,” Maddox said, as if failing to notice the professor’s reaction. “He spoke of a vast power drain. The AI powered certain ship functions. At that point, Galyan went offline. I saw two Destroyers afterward. I clearly remember that. I also saw a light in the distance. I steered us to the light.”

  “And?” asked Ludendorff.

  “And I recall wishing we were at the Junkyard Planet, what we called Sind II then.”

  “Go on.”

  “We passed through the light. I fell unconscious. When I woke up, we’d traveled over thirty light-years in an instant. I believe the light read my thoughts and moved me to the place I desired.”

  “It read your thoughts?” Ludendorff asked in disbelief.

  Maddox nodded.

  “That’s a preposterous tale,” the Methuselah Man said.

  “Yes,” Maddox said. “I quite agree.”

  Ludendorff gave him a searching sideways glance. “Why didn’t you say anything about the null region before this?”

  “I thought it best the Destroyers remain a secret.”

  “Hmm…” Ludendorff said. He picked up the cup and drained the coffee. Afterward, he poured himself more.

  “What do the legends say about a null region?” Maddox asked.

  “It’s quite complicated, scientifically speaking,” Ludendorff said. “But I’ll keep it simple so you can comprehend.” The professor fell silent as he swirled his cup. “I suppose the easiest way to describe it would be as an antimatter pocket or reality. Only, it isn’t antimatter, exactly. Otherwise, our starship would have blown up in a titanic explosion while we were there. Instead, we had the massive power drain. That drain happened because many properties are reversed in a null region.”

  “Could that trap a Destroyer?”

  “It’s possible,” Ludendorff said.

  “Does that sound like a Builder operation?”

  “Oh, yes. That part I can easily see.”

  “Would the null region keep the Destroyers intact all this time?”

  “Victory remained intact in regular space. Why couldn’t the Destroyers remain intact in the null region?”

  “But you don’t believe in the actual existence of the null region?” Maddox asked.

  Ludendorff’s right hand seemed to tremble. Maybe he’d had too much caffeine already.

  “I suppose I shouldn’t be hasty about this,” the professor said. “We had a freak occurrence that day. Who’s to say Strand didn’t have something up his sleeve as a backup plan against us in case the Juggernaut failed.”

  “You think Strand knows about the null region and this Nameless entity?”

  Ludendorff made “tsking” sounds. “I hate to admit such a thing, my boy. But Strand knew far too many oddities for his own good. I suppose if anyone would know about such things, it would be him. But Strand can’t help us now. The New Men have him.”

  “Maybe we should get him from the Throne World.”

  Ludendorff looked up in alarm. He chuckled a moment later. “You’re pulling my leg, of course.”

  “Why would I do that at a time like this?”

  Ludendorff scowled. “Strand must remain where he is.”

  “Professor—”

  “No!” Ludendorff said, making a decisive motion with a hand. “Strand cannot help us.”

  “But if he knows—”

  “Don’t you understand? Strand will concoct any lie in order to escape the New Men. You cannot trust anything he might tell you. No, no, my boy, you must forget such a notion. We went to exhausting effort to capture the scoundrel. He will have to live out his days—”

  Ludendorff raised a shaky hand as he spoke, with another cup of coffee headed for his lips. Maddox struck quicker than a cobra, smacking the cup out of the professor’s hand. Hot coffee spilled on the floor as the cup flew across the cafeteria to shatter against a wall.

  The professor yanked his hand back far too late. He shook his fingers, finally looking up at Maddox.

  “What’s gotten into you?”

  Maddox began to lean forward as hot intensity shone in his eyes. He gripped the edge of the table—abruptly, the captain leaned back in his chair. The intensity vanished from his features. Something hooded the fire in his eyes as an easy urbanity took its place.

  “I…shouldn’t have…” Maddox didn’t finish the thought.

  “You shouldn’t have done that,” Ludendorff snapped. The professor gave the captain a second glance before shaking his head. “You’re overwrought. I understand. The threat of the Swarm invaders has gotten the better of your already questionable manners. As I said a few moments earlier, you’re too cocksure. Yes, yes, I understand this is an extinction-level threat. But humanity has faced those before, believe you me.”

  “I suspect humanity has never faced a full-scale Swarm attack before,” Maddox said.

  “There may be something to your idea,” the professor conceded. “Still, slapping my hand…”

  “Questionable manners, I think you said. Why don’t we leave it at that?”

  Ludendorff shrugged as he flexed the struck fingers.

  “You’ve caused me plenty of inconveniences in the past,” Maddox said. “Perhaps I owed you that.”

  “If we’re leaving the subject, why are you still addressing it?”

  For just a moment, the fire in the captain’s eyes slipped past his guarded look. He tightened that back into place a second later.

  “Being married must have added to your stress,” the professor muttered. “Dana talks about marriage because of your impulsive act. She wishes to emulate you. I have to distract—”

  The professor shook his head abruptly. “Women,” he said. “Troublesome creatures, don’t you agree?”

  “They have their pluses.”

  “Oh, certainly,” Ludendorff said. “I obviously agree to that. In fact, I know more about women than any man alive. I know how to please them better than any man alive. If you’d like a few pointers…”

  Maddox raised his eyebrows in a sardonic manner.

  “It’s Meta’s loss,” Ludendorff said. “You could have her crying out in ecstasy for hours if you listened to me.”

  “You will leave Meta out of your lecherous comments.”

  “Oh, ho, I do believe I’ve found a chink in your icy armor, Captain. That was a mistake letting me see it.”

  “Just so you remember what I said.”

  “Threats, Captain?” Ludendorff asked.

  Maddox sighed.

  A few moments later, Ludendorff turned away. He nodded. “I need Dana for this. I need her brilliance. But it’s not there, and I don’t know how to revive it.”

  “Could Galyan aid you?”

  The professor regarded him. “Yes. That’s a good idea. The two of us…” Ludendorff frowned with growing severity. “If the null region exists, Galyan and I shall figure out how to duplicate your former feat of entering it. Let us for the moment, anyway, consider that problem solved.”

  Maddox waited.

  “We have several other problems to address. Who knows what awaits us on the Destroyers? The last time you boarded one…”

  “Yes,” Maddox said. “That could be a problem.”

  “Let’s also set that aside for a moment. The elephant in the room is the entity. I suspect it poses the greatest t
hreat to us. We shall accomplish nothing if we cannot deal with it.”

  Maddox could see the wheels turning in Ludendorff’s mind.

  The professor let his right thumb slide under the small gold chain around his neck. He moved the thumb back and forth across the underside of the chain.

  “What is the entity?” the professor asked.

  Maddox shrugged, saying, “Might it be gaseous or spirit-based?”

  Ludendorff’s head jerked up. “Spirit-based?” he asked in surprise.

  “We can’t discount the possibility,” Maddox said.

  “What does spirit-based even mean?”

  “A spirit, like a demon or an angel,” Maddox said.

  “I am familiar with the concept of spirits,” Ludendorff said testily. “However, there is no factual, observable data that leads me to believe in them.”

  “Can we see the wind?”

  “Oh, yes, yes,” Ludendorff said in a tedious voice. “I am familiar with those tropes in trying to explain—”

  “Why are you so resistant to the idea of spirits?”

  Ludendorff opened his mouth to reply, but then slowly closed it. He shrugged a moment later.

  “Let’s refine your definition,” the professor said. “What do you mean by a spirit?”

  “I just said—”

  “No! Refine the concept. Help me understand exactly what you’re trying to say.”

  Maddox tilted his head. “A material object has three known states: solid, liquid and gaseous.”

  “So you are suggesting that spirits are non-material?” the professor asked.

  “It would seem so.”

  “Can you refine that definition?”

  Maddox tapped his chin. “I suppose…natural versus supernatural objects.”

  “Natural is something made or formed by natural causes,” the professor said. “Spirit entities are made or formed through supernatural causes.”

  “That sounds about right.”

  “Nature gives us nature-based weapons. Supernatural…” Ludendorff spread his hands. “How do you propose to find a supernatural weapon to deal with the entity?”

  Maddox chewed that over. “If the entity is supernatural… I don’t know where to find a supernatural-based weapon.”

  “Neither do I.”

  “Maybe we haven’t exhausted the possibilities of natural entities,” Maddox said. “Perhaps an entity could be electrical in nature.”

  “That’s an interesting hypothesis. In fact, your sergeant’s story tends to lend itself to that belief. His bionic hand glowed. That would imply an energy source.” Ludendorff’s voice had risen with excitement as he spoke. “Yes, yes,” he said, grinning. “That would also make sense of why this…ego-fragment used a passing Spacer. In some manner, the entity could reach from its null-region trap when a Spacer with greater modifications came within its radius.”

  Ludendorff positively glowed. “That is remarkable, my boy. I think we have stumbled onto the right direction to search.”

  “You seem relieved it’s not supernatural.”

  Ludendorff laughed. “Of course, I’m relieved. I’d rather face a thing I can understand, a creature that I can defeat. We simply need the right kind of weapon.”

  “Would a blaster work against an electrical creature?”

  Ludendorff drummed his fingers on the table. He stared at the pot of coffee for what seemed an eternity. Then, he picked up the pot, opened the lid and sipped some of the coffee inside. He grinned at Maddox afterward.

  “I have it,” the professor said.

  Maddox waited.

  Ludendorff slid off his chair and began to pace. “The starship is about here in Human Space…” he said to himself. And then he seemed to freeze. The professor remained like that for several heartbeats as if he’d turned into a statue. Then, just as suddenly, he began pacing again. “If we moved there…” He snapped his fingers and turned to Maddox. “I believe we need to make a slight detour, my boy.”

  Maddox studied Ludendorff, wondering what had happened during that frozen moment.

  “Is something wrong?” Ludendorff asked.

  Maddox opened his mouth, but decided to let the incident pass. “No,” he said.

  “Why are you staring at me then?”

  Maddox hesitated just a moment longer before asking, “Where would this detour take us?”

  “To a hidden planet Strand and I used to explore,” the professor said. “I haven’t been there…in two hundred years. It shouldn’t take us long. I just have to remember the route. It’s quite tricky.”

  Once more, Maddox became suspicious. This was Professor Ludendorff. The man usually had something up his sleeve. Yet, the frozen seconds had seemed different. It was almost as if someone had changed…settings, like old-fashioned radio stations, in the professor’s mind. Inwardly, Maddox chuckled to himself. That had to be wrong. It had simply been the Methuselah Man thinking harder and more deeply than normal. With all those memories packed in his mind, it must take some effort to dredge up old thoughts.

  “Why do you need to go to this place?” Maddox asked.

  Ludendorff’s eyes shone with a strange light. “I don’t know how I’d forgotten. It’s been so long, I suppose, but it was an interesting voyage that we had there.” The Methuselah Man shrugged. “I just remembered an excavation with some strange symbols that never made sense before. They’re making more sense now that we’re talking about null regions. I need to see those symbols again to be sure.”

  “Will going to this place be dangerous?”

  Ludendorff laughed. “Quite dangerous, my boy. I think you’re going to love the place.”

  -14-

  The circuitous route took Victory near a blazing star, through a vast gaseous cloud that stretched more than a light-year and through the thickest asteroid belt that Maddox had ever witnessed. It also took them away from the place in the Beyond where they needed to go.

  “Maybe we should head to Sind II,” Maddox told Ludendorff a week after their conversation.

  “Patience, my boy, we’re almost there.”

  Six days later, the starship entered yet another Laumer Point, one that took them five light-years in a hop into a nearly empty system with a cool red giant star. The system was closer to the edge of the galaxy than Maddox had ever gone before.

  “I’d think the more exotic wisdom would be nearer the galactic core, not at the galactic edge,” Maddox told Meta.

  Ludendorff happened to be on the bridge today. He overheard the remark.

  “You’re quite wrong, my boy,” the professor said. “The Destroyers came from outside our galaxy, remember? Surely, I’ve told you that before.”

  “It must have slipped my mind,” Maddox said from the captain’s chair.

  “That’s one of my greatest problems,” the professor admitted. “When you hold as much knowledge as I do in my brain, you’re bound to forget more than most people will ever learn in a lifetime.”

  “I hate to think we’re on a wild goose chase,” Maddox said.

  “No, no, that’s the wrong way to look at this,” the professor said. “Gaining the understanding of a thing is worth the detours. Most people aren’t willing to risk the loss of time in order to gamble for knowledge. It’s one of the foibles that keep the masses ignorant. The other is a low IQ, but they really can’t help that, can they?”

  “I suppose not,” Maddox said, as he gave Meta a knowing look.

  She smiled back at him.

  That made Maddox grin.

  The professor “tsked” his tongue several times. “Newlyweds,” he said. “I never thought I’d see you in such a condition, Captain. It doesn’t become you, let me be the first to tell you.”

  “Why is he so angry?” Meta asked Maddox.

  “Dana wants them to get married.”

  Meta clapped her hands. “That would be a wonderful idea, Professor.”

  Ludendorff gave Maddox a thunderous glare. “I told you that in the strictes
t confidence.”

  “Don’t you love Dana?” Meta asked.

  “Now, now, it’s not a matter of love,” the professor told her. “These things must take time to fully mature.”

  “Maddox is a captain,” Meta said. “He could marry you two.”

  “I’d be delighted to help,” Maddox said.

  Ludendorff smiled at Meta and frowned at Maddox. Finally, the Methuselah Man waved a hand in the air. “I’ll give that my highest priority. I give you my word. Unfortunately, we’re almost at the planet.”

  “Captain,” Valerie said sharply. She was at her console. “I hate to interrupt the good times—”

  Maddox swiveled forward, glancing at the main screen. He saw four bright dots speeding toward Victory.

  “Are those missiles?” the captain asked.

  “Yes, sir,” Valerie said. “We’re under attack.”

  “Why didn’t you warn us about this possibility?” Maddox asked Ludendorff.

  The professor grumbled something under his breath about it having slipped his mind. “If you’d let me concentrate instead of belaboring me about matrimony—”

  Maddox barked orders at Galyan, who had materialized on the bridge.

  The starship’s antimatter engine began to build up power. Soon, a purple neutron beam flashed into the void. One of the speeding missiles vaporized.

  “Nothing to it,” Ludendorff said. “They’re quite old.”

  “How old?” asked Maddox.

  “Ten thousand years, at least,” the Methuselah Man said.

  Maddox glanced in astonishment at the professor. At the same time, the neutron beam flashed again, and a second missile blew apart.

  “Captain,” Valerie said. “I have the sensor analysis. These are thermonuclear-tipped missiles.”

  “Oh,” he said.

  “Of ten thousand megatons each,” the lieutenant added.

  “That’s can’t be right.”

  “If one of those goes off…” Valerie said.

  The neutron beam flashed again, and the third missile and its warhead exploded harmlessly, destroyed before it could ignite.

  “The fourth one is getting ready to blow,” Valerie shouted.

  “I can hear you, Lieutenant,” Maddox said. “Shouting isn’t going to solve anything. Galyan,” he said.