The Lost Colony (Lost Starship Series Book 4) (14 page)

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Meta adjusted her power gloves, wanting to get the rescue started already.

She sat beside Second Lieutenant Maker as he maneuvered a submersible under the radioactive ice of former Greenland.

The small Scotsman seemed right at home with the blue-shining ice above and the sluggish seawater all around. According to him, no one was a better space pilot or underwater operator than he.

Meta hated the aqua-environment. It felt alien with the hisses, groans and squealing metal all around them. Too much pressure pushed against their craft, which had never been designed to go quite this deep, she was sure.

“Soon now, lass,” Keith told her. “Then the fun begins.”

Meta nodded absently. She was a strong woman born on a two G planet. Her muscles and bones were denser than a regular human. She had learned that some of her differences were the result of New Men experimentation. Enemy agents had secretly run her mining colony world as a genetic laboratory.

Her body-armor hid a voluptuous figure, while her long blonde hair was tucked under a battle helmet.

Maddox and she were lovers. He had always come for her in the end. If she had to today, Meta was going to do the same thing for him.

“You’re sure Maddox knows the plan?” Meta asked.

“Why are you asking me?” Keith said. “Ask the tin men.”

Meta glanced sidelong at the two waiting androids. They looked human enough, but she knew the truth. Under the pseudo-flesh, they were composed of circuits, metal and cybertronic mesh. They also wore diving gear and carried weapons. They would be going into the tainted water to reach the prison complex and return with the captain.

“There,” Keith said. “It’s in sight. Do you see?”

Meta peered through the thick window at the underwater world. All she saw was gloomy murk. Not much sunlight made it through the ice.

“No,” Keith said. “Don’t look out there, but here.” He tapped a radar screen with a green-glowing dot. The blue triangle on the screen was their mini-sub approaching the complex.

“Are you sure our friend-or-foe signal is working?” Meta asked. “If our signal doesn’t match, the complex will launch torpedoes at us.”

“Don’t sweat it, love. Everything is under control.”

One thing about Keith, he always had an optimistic outlook. Meta wondered sometimes if she should try for the same thing.

She smiled at the pilot, nodding. “This is going to work,” she said.

“That’s the spirit,” Keith told her. “No more doom and gloom for you. Now—”

“We have a problem,” the holoimage Ludendorff said.

Meta jerked around in surprise. The holoimage was supposed to be with Maddox. Why had it returned? She peered at the ghostly form with distrust. Maybe the others had faith in the fake professor, but she didn’t.

“What’s the situation?” Keith asked. “Why are you back?”

“The authorities have used gas on Captain Maddox,” the holoimage said. “He’s unconscious in his cell.”

Meta swore under her breath. She’d known something was going to go wrong.

“Given these circumstances,” the holoimage said, “we must abort. I dare not risk Star Watch capturing my engrams.”

Meta glanced at a strange device in the back of the cabin. The androids had brought it with them. Apparently, the holoimage Ludendorff stored its AI engrams in there, projecting the holoimage of the snotty professor a certain distance and no more. She had figured that to be one hundred kilometers, which gave the holoimage quite a range.

Meta was sure the device was Builder tech of the first order. But it was signature Ludendorff to come up with something like that. He had been pulling stuff out of his rear since the day she’d met him. Why not a nifty little engram-holding box that could project a holoimage?

“We’re not aborting the mission,” Keith informed the holoimage. “They have our captain and we’re going to set him free, as in right now.”

“Negative,” the holoimage said. “I demand you turn back.”

Meta had been waiting for something screwy to occur. She powered up the gloves so they purred with exoskeleton strength.

“And since you are too emotionally invested in the rescue to calculate the odds correctly,” the holoimage said, “I am enforcing my desire.”

Keith turned around.

The two androids stood up, drawing small laser pistols, aiming them at the pilot.

Keith shook his head. “You’re not seriously trying this.”

“Reverse direction,” the holoimage Ludendorff said. “We will attempt a recue at another date.”

“Yeah, right,” Keith said. “Once we’ve lost the element of surprise—”

Meta whirled around. She was closer to the androids than Keith was. They began to target her. She grabbed an android hand in each power glove and squeezed, crumpling each weapon and each android hand. They attempted to react. She heaved, tossing the androids onto the deck. With lethal precision, Meta attacked the first one, disabling it with her power-gloves.

“Stop at once,” the holoimage said. “They are irreplaceable.”

The second android sat up, glanced at its ruined hand and reached for a knife with its good one.

Meta didn’t give the android time to complete the maneuver. With the gloves and swift hand-chops, she smashed the pseudo-man back onto the deck. Then, she destroyed the face, deactivating it forever in a shower of sparks.

“What have you done?” the holoimage cried. “They were the last ones.”

Meta stood, her heart thudding with a rush of adrenaline. “If you don’t shut up and do exactly as I say, I’m going to smash your little box next. That will deactivate
you
. Is that something you really want?”

The ghostly image studied her. “You are a bloodthirsty maiden, and you have ensured the mission’s ultimate failure. We needed the androids as commandos.”

“Keith and I can do that,” Meta said.

“Count me out,” the pilot said. “I’m not swimming in that radioactive soup.”

“I’ll do this myself then,” Meta said. “And you’re going to show me the way in the facility,” she told the holoimage. “And if you’re thinking of saying no, realize that I’ll purge your box for good if you disagree.”

“This is blackmail,” the holoimage said.

“I’m glad you understand me,” Meta said. “It will save time. Keith, how long until we’re ready to launch?”

Keith grinned as he shook his head in admiration. “You do realize they know we’re coming?”

Meta shrugged. She was still charged from the fight. Yet, there was a small part of her—the reasonable part—that told her this was suicide. If the others knew they were coming, couldn’t they override the FOE signal and launch the complex’s torpedoes at them?

“If you’re game, so am I,” Keith said. Then, he glanced meaningfully at the holoimage. “We’re going to hit them one-two.”

Meta nodded thoughtfully.

“What does that mean?” the holoimage asked, who glanced at each of them in turn. “Did you just use a coded phrase to hide your real intention from me?”

Meta snorted as she opened and closed her power gloves. The AI in the box was almost as smart as the real Ludendorff. It had guessed right about Keith’s coded phrase just now. Galyan had suspected possible treachery on the holoimage’s part. Thus, they had a Plan B, which was what they were about to implement now.

Still, would that stop the others from launching torpedoes?

***

Lieutenant Noonan’s right hand hovered over the activation switch. She was on the starship’s bridge in the commander’s chair, with Galyan to her left.

The Adok AI watched her. Had his probability analyzer predicted each of her possible actions? Galyan had been right about several critical factors already. The AI had guessed the invisible holoimage would be caught talking to Maddox and that the prison authorities would gas the captain afterward. Galyan had also predicted the AI Ludendorff’s reaction to all that.

“The AI has acted with self-preservation utmost in mind,” Galyan had said.

Valerie tried to understand that. The AI computer with Ludendorff’s engrams believed its primary motivation was self-preservation. Galyan had explained his reasoning, of course. The Ludendorff AI was Builder tech, which the hidden aliens absolutely did not want duplicated by primitive humans.

Did that mean the Builders were behind this, or did it mean the real Ludendorff had been unable to disconnect that part of the box’s programming?

“You have already committed yourself to the rescue,” Galyan told her.

Valerie turned toward him.

“You must know that I am correct,” Galyan said.

“Do you remember what I told you about bragging?” Valerie asked in a dispirited tone.

“I do,” Galyan said, “but that is not germane to your next decision. You must activate the emergency protocol. Anything else will lead to ugly problems we do not want on our consciences.”

“You have a conscience?” Valerie asked.

The holoimage Adok appeared troubled. “That is an unkind dig, Valerie. Why do you attempt to cause me grief? For six thousand years—”

“I’m sorry, Galyan. I shouldn’t have asked that. I’m…I’m nervous. I worked hard to get to this position. I hate the idea of throwing everything away by disobeying Star Watch.”

“Delaying making a decision is still a decision. If you do not act promptly, Captain Maddox, Second Lieutenant Maker and Meta will all be imprisoned, possibly for the rest of their lives.”

Valerie tapped the switch before sagging against the commander’s chair, listening to a klaxon blare. “It’s started,” she whispered. “There’s no going back now.”

“Yes,” Galyan said. “Is it not exciting?”

Valerie looked up at the main screen. The scattered islands of Greenland were directly below the starship. For the past few days, Valerie had delicately altered the vessel’s course so the starship would be at this location as if by accident.

The klaxon continued to wail. The few remaining islands of Greenland disappeared from the screen. The handsome, worried face of Dr. Clifford appeared. He was in the main disruptor cannon chamber.

The doctor ran a hand through his wavy blond hair. “Lieutenant, what seems to be the problem? What’s the emergency?”

Valerie found that she couldn’t breathe. She didn’t want to say this. Straightening, she said in a strained voice, “You and your team must evacuate the starship immediately.”

Dr. Clifford frowned. “I thought there wasn’t supposed to be any danger in Earth orbit.”

“I know,” Valerie said. “I-I thought so too. It’s the reactors. A strange gas has begun to leak from their aft chambers.”

“If you seal the bulkheads we should all be safe,” Clifford told her.

“Under normal circumstances I would agree with you. But since none of us anticipated the danger, I keep wondering what else is going to go wrong that we aren’t aware of.”

“But—”

“Please, Dr. Clifford, you must hurry to the shuttle.”

“No,” he said, “I’m going to stay at my post and—”

Valerie took another breath. “This is an order, Doctor. I am ordering you and your team to evacuate at once.”

Suspicion swam in his blue eyes. The doctor was as good-looking as they came, but it didn’t mean he was stupid. He would need another nudge.

“The Home Fleet is already on high alert,” Valerie lied. “Look if it helps you.”

Galyan sent Dr. Clifford a carefully edited video of Star Watch battleships closing in on
Victory
. It was old footage from the Oort cloud a couple of years ago. When Dr. Clifford reappeared on the screen, the man had become pale.

“I’m on my way the shuttle, Lieutenant. Will you be joining us?”

“I’ll use the next shuttle,” Valerie said. “There’s one more procedure I want to attempt. I have to go now. Good-bye, Dr. Clifford, it’s been a pleasure working with you.”

“You say that as if we won’t see each other again. I’ll see you in an hour.”

Valerie forced a pained smile. “Yes, an hour, two at most. Until then, Dr. Clifford.”

She cut the connection, feeling more remote than before the call.

Galyan stared off into space. It meant he was looking through the starship’s sensors. “I’m almost in position.”

Valerie looked up. “Can you really do this?”

“Theoretically, it should be no problem.”

“That wasn’t the question.”

“No,” Galyan said. “It was not. I suppose we are going to find out soon enough if I can do this. In ten seconds, I shall begin the insertion code.”

***

Meta settled a full-face mask over her features. The idea of swimming in irradiated seawater troubled her. It was going to be cold, too. The suit was supposed to protect her from the harsh cold, but reality often proved different from theory.

The craft lurched. She staggered, striking her shin against a bench.

“We’re in position,” Keith radioed into her ear.

“Roger,” Meta said. She entered a tiny chamber, turning a wheel. A light flashed, and seawater began to gurgle around her ankles. She stared down at the liquid. It rose fast. She closed her eyes, telling herself this was no problem. It would not take long.