The Lost Colony (Lost Starship Series Book 4) Read online

  The doctor wore a red jacket and had let her dark hair cascade past her shoulders. It was presently tousled from her sleep.

  Dana was in her late thirties and strikingly beautiful with brown skin and dark eyes. Born on Earth in Bombay, India, she had emigrated to the Indian Brahma System with her parents. A few years later, she had been the smartest student in the university system there, a girl in a world filled with boys. She had fled Brahma in the company of Professor Ludendorff, having lived with him on Brahma, creating a scandal for her family. The affair had ended in time and Dana had found herself back in the Brahma System. There, she had worked for the secret service against the Rigel Social Syndicate, a neighboring star system. Dana had been a clone thief, caught by Star Watch in the end and sent down to Loki Prime, the worst of the Commonwealth’s prison planets. Captain Maddox had rescued her because he’d needed her services. For what she had done to help bring back Victory from the Beyond, Star Watch had pardoned her of crimes.

  She had led the science team the first time in the Oort cloud studying Victory. After the professor, Dana knew more about the ancient starship than anyone else did. Because of her intellect and daring, she had uncovered old ship systems in Victory that had gone a long way to defeating the alien Destroyer in the Solar System.

  Since then, she had spent many hours trying to uncover yet more deactivated Adok ship systems. Finally, having found nothing like her previous discovery, she had asked to work on the Alien Project in the Atlantic.

  Star Watch had reluctantly agreed. They were much more concerned with finding solutions to present problems than reconstructing the past. But Dana had insisted on the work, and given her previous successes, Star Watch had agreed.

  Dana had a different philosophy on the importance of the past than most others did. In her opinion, humanity knew too little about the Builders. Galyan had given some new data, but that had been sketchy. The mechanical people had aided the ancient Adoks against the Swarm, but the Builders had remained mysterious to them, preferring to work in the shadows. In the end, Galyan had given them more Adok legends and myths than facts about the Builders or mechanical people as the Adoks had called them.

  The Builders were a mystery indeed. Surely, they could not have begun as cybernetic beings. They must have been fully biological at one time. So far, though, the evidence had proved otherwise.

  From what Dana could tell, the Builders had been watchers, dabbling with the Adoks and humanity, constructing the silver pyramids but having no known planets. They had fought the ancient aliens who had made Destroyers and they seemed to have disliked the strange Swarm.

  As Dana sat in the seat, she rubbed her hands in anticipation of the coming meeting. Yes, she was concerned about the greater war against the New Men. She also feared Strand, realizing he might be the greatest danger of all. Yet, like the professor, ancient aliens absorbed her intellect.

  That was why she had gone to the bottom of the sea in the Mid-Atlantic to join the Atlantis Project, the renamed Alien Project.

  What they had found down there…it was amazing if one looked at it the right way. Could she help convince the Star Watch oversight board that the scientists down in the Mid-Atlantic needed more funds and equipment?

  ***

  Two hours later, Dana stood before a lectern, fingering a data chip. The oversight officers would appear soon. Over a comm, she had finally convinced them of the need for an emergency meeting.

  Jotting notes on a piece of paper, she was in the process of deciding on the precise wording of her opening monologue. “Hit them between the eyes from the beginning.” Dana liked to say, “Grab them by the nose and twist if you have to.” That kept people awake no matter what they really believed.

  The nose grab, in her opinion, was the Atlantis Project. Real buildings and artifacts existed down there alien in nature. She suspected the Builders had constructed an Earth base in the distant past. If the scientists could dig deeper, Dana expected to extract ancient Builder technology. That was the nose twist. In the war against the New Men, each new tech could be the piece that turned the tide of the war fully in the Commonwealth’s favor.

  The similarities she’d seen down on the sea floor compared to other Builder tech she’d seen—they were very similar. Now it was true that most of the others in the Atlantis Project disagreed with her analysis, but that was because they were fools. They shied from the truth because the implications could upset their pet theories about human development.

  What if humanity was a special project of the Builders? What if the world’s religions all went back to shadowy remembrances of the alien cybernetic organisms? That would upset the main religions, but what did Dana care about that? She wanted to get to the truth, not continue to follow ancient myths.

  Hmmm, what if she began her monologue like this? Dana began scribbling the idea on paper.

  A door opened as she wrote. She looked up with a scowl. The meeting wasn’t supposed to start for another half hour. She needed the time—

  “Captain Maddox,” Dana said, surprised.

  “Hello, Doctor,” the captain said a bit breathlessly. Had he been running?

  “Sergeant Riker,” Dana said with a smile. The older man panted, coming through the door behind Maddox. “It’s good to see you two scoundrels. Have you come to hear my report?”

  Maddox stared at her before saying, “When will we see the New Hindu Kish again?”

  It took a second. Then, Dana’s eyelids fluttered. She exhaled as if the captain had just punched her in the stomach. She took several steps back, rubbing her stomach, as her features stiffened. It felt as if all the air seeped out of her lungs. She grew faint and it seemed as if she was falling backward.

  The next thing she realized was sitting on a chair with Maddox peering at her from another.

  “What…?” Her mouth was dry. She frowned, looking up at the lectern. The last thing she remembered was standing behind it. How had she gotten here?

  “Did I faint?” she asked.

  “No,” Maddox said, “but you were vacant-eyed for several seconds. I helped you sit down. Do you recall the saying?”

  The words slammed home again, “When will we see the New Hindu Kish again?” How dare the captain speak such words to her? They were some of the most intimate words Ludendorff and she had ever shared. The last time Ludendorff had spoken them—

  She straightened. “Where is he?” she asked, hope flaring in her heart.

  “Excuse me?” Maddox asked.

  “Don’t play dumb with me, Captain. I know you know what I mean. It’s clear you’ve spoken to Ludendorff. I demand to know what else he told you.”

  Dana glared at him. “He gave you those words. No one else could possibly know them. He told you to tell me in order for there to be no doubt it was him. He wants me to go to him, is that it? Where is he? I demand you tell me this instant.”

  “I see,” Maddox said quietly. “He spoke the truth. It really was Ludendorff. That changes the equation.”

  “Captain,” she said in a warning tone.

  Maddox studied her. She hated when he did that. “I spoke with a holoimage of Ludendorff.” The captain proceeded to tell her of the holoimage claiming to be her ex-lover. At the end of the story, Maddox waited.

  “What am I supposed to say to that?” she asked.

  “Was the holoimage from the professor?”

  “Yes, without a doubt,” she said.

  “Could…an enemy have subdued the professor, forced the engrams into an AI unit and then cataloged the needed secrets via machine?”

  “You have a suspicious turn of mind,” she said.

  “I am an Intelligence officer when all is said and done.”

  “Are you implying Strand did this?” she asked.

  “He seems like an obvious candidate or a Builder.”

  Dana looked away. “I don’t think it was a Builder.”

  “Your evidence being…what?”

  “According to my studies on th
e Atlantis Project, the Builders were exceptionally peaceful. They abhorred violence.”

  “Yet they developed weapons and fought wars,” Maddox said.

  “Your first assumption is correct. I do not agree with the second.”

  “They used proxies then,” Maddox said. “Their minds still guided the conflict.”

  “I believe you are wrong again,” Dana said.

  Maddox grew thoughtful. Finally, he shook his head. “The evidence does not support you.”

  “The more I find out about the Builders,” Dana said, “the more I believe that other species bewildered them with their bents toward violence.”

  Maddox continued to stare at her. Abruptly, he stood.

  “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “It’s time I laid this before the brigadier. We need Victory and we need to hurry to the Xerxes System. I have to reach the professor before whoever set the timer in my flitter reaches Ludendorff first.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  Maddox disappeared through the door without answering.

  Riker glanced at her and then at the door. The sergeant jumped to his feet, waved goodbye and ran after the captain.

  -10-

  “No!” Brigadier O’Hara said. “It’s out of the question. Absolutely not.”

  Maddox sat in her office in front of a synthi-wood desk. He had just finished explaining his encounter with the holoimage, the reaction of Dana Rich to ‘When will we see the New Hindu Kish again?’ and made his request to take Victory to the Xerxes System and rescue the professor.

  “Excuse me, please,” O’Hara said in a softer tone. “I did not mean to shout at you.” She patted her gray hair and straightened her uniform. “You…you surprised me, Captain. Surely, you can see this is a trick to lure you and Victory to the Xerxes System.”

  “That was my initial response as well, Ma’am. Dana’s reaction has changed my mind.”

  “Well, it hasn’t changed mine.”

  “If you could have seen her—”

  “That doesn’t matter,” O’Hara said. “Your first suspicion was the correct one. Frankly, I’m surprised at you. Isn’t it obvious someone wishes to isolate Victory in a possibly hostile star system?”

  “Star Watch sent a flotilla under Port Admiral Hayes. If anyone could have cleared out the ancient drones—”

  “Yes, yes, old Admiral Hayes is as clever as they come,” O’Hara said. “But this is the Xerxes System, a notorious star system that everyone has avoided for decades. It’s legendary in its danger. Hayes has orders to proceed with extreme caution. It’s likely his flotilla is at the outer edge of the system, still collecting data on possible enemy star cruisers.”

  “Victory can help him,” Maddox said.

  “The Lord High Admiral doesn’t want Victory anywhere near any conflict for the near future. We must discover ways to duplicate the starship’s disrupter beam. So far, that has eluded our best people.”

  “This could be critical,” Maddox said.

  “In this, I can’t agree with you. Critical is having an alien Destroyer readying its beam to annihilate Earth. Critical is a New Men armada about to obliterate the last mobile Star Watch fleet. Freeing Ludendorff does not fall into that category.”

  “I think you’re wrong, Ma’am. Ludendorff knows more than anyone except for Strand.”

  “Exactly,” the Iron Lady said. “Ludendorff may be too dangerous to rescue. He may have sent the Ludendorff android in his place. Why did he use androids to kidnap you in Shanghai?”

  “He said for secrecy’s sake.”

  O’Hara made an uncharacteristically rude noise. “Captain, I believe whoever used the holoimage is playing on your overactive curiosity. That means we must do exactly the opposite of what they’re suggesting.”

  “That seems far too timid,” Maddox said.

  “Perhaps it does to the man who knowingly drinks drugged Mickeys.”

  Maddox sat back, surprised at her vehemence. “Maybe we should ask the Lord High Admiral his opinion.”

  “Oh, that is neatly done, sir,” O’Hara said. “You are trying to jump over my head in my presence. I do not appreciate that in the slightest.”

  Maddox licked his lips. He had never seen O’Hara so worked up about an issue.

  The Iron Lady stood, putting her fingertips on the desk, scrutinizing him coldly. Slowly, her shoulders deflated. She slumped back into her chair and swiveled around.

  Maddox was more confused than ever.

  A minute later, she turned back. Her eyes had become red-rimmed.

  “Ma’am,” Maddox said with concern. “Are you well?”

  “You’re a foolish young man, do you know that?”

  Maddox did not know how to answer that.

  “You run off on an outrageous quest, return with a magnificent starship, leave again and defeat an alien Destroyer against all reasonable odds. Some might say, ‘Let Captain Maddox go and do another mythic feat.’ I say, ‘The odds have become too long. One of these times, events will overpower your good luck and you’ll die.’ Do you want to die, Captain Maddox?”

  “I do not,” he said.

  “There’s your answer,” she said.

  “But—”

  “Someone has to shield you from your foolhardy desires to race off into danger. We will not go see the Lord High Admiral. This holoimage is a lethal trap meant to take you away forever. I know. I can…”

  “You can what, Ma’am?”

  “This may sound theatrical to you, Captain. But I can feel it in my heart that if you leave, you will never return. I…I do not wish that on my conscience.”

  Maddox sat stock still, finally understanding the nature of her refusal. She did not want to risk him again. For some unknown reason, that tightened his throat. Even so, he forced out words:

  “If the Xerxes System is that dangerous,” Maddox said, “Port Admiral Hayes needs reinforcements. Starship Victory is the perfect vessel for the strange system. You know that’s true, Ma’am. I feel the Lord High Admiral would agree with me. I think you realize he would too, which is why you don’t want to ask him.”

  “I realize no such thing,” O’Hara said.

  “We can’t afford to have such a dangerous star system so near Earth,” Maddox said. “It’s eighty-three light-years in eleven jumps using the Laumer-Points.”

  “I’m well aware of the distance, Captain.”

  “Ma’am, I’m touched for you concern regarding me. I appreciate it.”

  “I don’t believe that. Therefore, I ask you to prove me wrong by listening to me. What is the old saying? Actions speak louder than words.”

  “I realize that. But Ludendorff has proved critical time and again. We desperately need the man’s knowledge. I know you know that. He has the location of the Throne World. That in itself is worth the risk.”

  The brigadier sat quietly, ingesting the news, finally saying, “That is important. Very well, we can send someone else to fetch him.”

  “There is no one else who will succeed in this but me and Starship Victory.”

  The Iron Lady put both hands on the desk. The redness in her eyes had departed. “You think this is strictly emotional on my part. I assure you that isn’t so. I have studied the signs and listened carefully to your tale. I think a Builder lies behind this. You have sparked their interest in you.”

  “Ma’am, that’s far too fanciful.”

  “No,” O’Hara said. “I have read Dr. Rich’s report, the one she is giving now. I agree with her that the signs down in the Mid-Atlantic show the Builders walked the Earth in our early history. The pyramids are the last example of their presence. Perhaps more interestingly, the lost city of Atlantis is their fallen abode.”

  “I’m unfamiliar with the topic.”

  O’Hara shook her head. “Captain, this is a dangerous moment in human history. It could be a fulcrum point. Pressure applied at the wrong spot could tip the balance the wrong way. These past few years we have
survived amazing shocks. The New Men appeared out of the Beyond, smashing our fleets and conquering our planets. You found the great antidote—an ancient alien starship of unique technologies. This starship you used with utmost skill, allowing Admiral Fletcher to save half of Fifth Fleet while smashing the New Men’s invasion armada. After that, Star Watch had a fighting chance against the demoralizing and frightening foe, superior to us in every way. But no, another shock appeared, the alien Destroyer. It burned to the bedrock every planet in the New Arabia System, destroying the heart of the Wahhabi Caliphate and annihilating the bulk of their war fleet. The Destroyer swept away an easy quarter of humanity’s fighting ships—meaning we were going to have a much harder time attacking the New Men. Fortunately, the Windsor League and others have joined us in a grand crusade against the enemy. It’s still possible we can defeat the mysterious supermen hiding in the Beyond. Knowing the location of the Throne World…I agree that is vital to our war effort, but other Intelligence operatives can hurry to the Xerxes System and inform Hayes.”

  “That’s quite the speech, Ma’am.”

  “I’m not finished,” she said. “There is one deadly ingredient in all this that frightens me terribly: Strand. The ancient Methuselah Man is deceptive beyond anything I’ve experienced. He is ultimately devious, and I believe you frighten him. Now, why is that, Captain?”

  Maddox said nothing, not sure where she was taking this.

  “You have thwarted Strand several times, a feat almost beyond measure. We have discovered that he created the Methuselah People and he created the New Men. Why has Strand done these things?”

  “We know why, Ma’am.”

  “I don’t agree. I think we know what he wants us to believe.”

  “No. I think we uncovered the truth. Strand did these things because he believes there are alien species out there—the Swarm in particular—that could annihilate humanity. The Methuselah People and the New Men were his way of improving the species so we could face the terrible enemy.”

  “Strand is evil, Captain. I know because he sent the alien Destroyer against Earth. That was a monstrous crime. He will do anything he can to win, not to save humanity.”