The Lost Starship (37 page)

“Wormhole?”
the holoimage asked.

“The one
that begins in your star’s photosphere,” Maddox said.

“
I have no idea what you’re babbling about now,” the holoimage said.

Maddox ingested the information. Could the alien not know about tramlines and Laumer-Points? It seemed inconceivable.

“Ah,” the captain said, “didn’t the Swarm burst out of the sun as these star cruisers just did?”

“Of course not,” the holoimage said. “
For over one hundred years, we watched the Swarm advance toward our star system. Their massed fleet came at sub-light speed, heading straight for us. In their arrogance, they made no attempt to hide their approach.”

“Wait a minute,” Maddox said. “Let me get this straight. The Swarm didn’t use tramlines?”

“What are these tramlines you keep speaking about?” the holoimage asked.

“The
y’re wormholes, the means we used to enter your star system. How do you think we got here?”

“I’ve had enough of your senseless chattering,” the holoimage said. “The enemy is energizing his weapons. Can it be his beams have a greater range than ours?”

Maddox crouched over his screen, watching the void. As he did, three rays of light speared from the three enemy starships. The captain stopped breathing. Would
Victory’s
deflector shields hold?

Yes!
Before the lances of light touched
Victory
, a shimmering substance halted them. The three beams poured energy against the ancient vessel’s shield. The rays turned that area red. As the enemy continued to beam, the color darkened, and the area grew larger and larger as the shield attempted to dissipate the energy.

“This is unbelievable,” the holoimage said. “Their
beam range astounds me. The Swarm possessed nothing like this. Neither did we possess such long-ranged weaponry.”

Maddox gritted his teeth and balled his fists
tight. The New Men continued to beam
Victory’s
shield. The starship began to tremble. It didn’t come from the strain against the shield. Rather, the antimatter engines whined so Maddox could hear the sound from the bridge. The
thrumming
engines shook the panels.

“The
star cruisers are slowing down,” the holoimage said. “No. I need to close the distance faster. If only I had use of my primary weapons. I would smash these gadflies then.”

“How much longer
will it take until we’re in neutron beam range?” Maddox shouted.

“No
!” the holoimage groaned. “This isn’t possible.”

Maddox saw it
on his screen. A beam speared through the blackened shield. The ray sped for the ancient starship and boiled against hull plating. Armor grew red hot. The beam dug deeper, deeper—
“I am overriding the safety precautions,” the holoimage said. “There.
That should fix it.”

A fierce high-pitched whine grew louder. The entire bridge shook
harder than ever. The holoimage became dimmer, his words harder to hear.

On the screen, the enemy ray no longer melted outer armor. The deflector shield was
no longer black, either. It had turned back to a brown color, with the three hellish beams trying to batter it back down.

“In a few more minutes
we’ll be in range,” the holoimage whispered.

With pent up frustration,
Maddox struck a panel. The alien shield was obviously better than anything the Commonwealth of Planets had. With even that improved technology, the lost vessel would immeasurably help the Star Watch against the New Men. How could he get the starship home was the question.

With
their heavy laser beams, Star Watch battleships could have already been hammering the enemy. This short-range alien neutron weapon—
Maddox sat up, blinking rapidly
. How daft do I have to be? The AI spoke about a star drive. He doesn’t mean wormholes either
. Could the aliens have discovered a
different
way to go faster than light?

An explosion shook the room. The motion threw Maddox out of his seat to sprawl onto the deck. He looked up from his spot.

“Did the antimatter engines blow up?” he asked.

“This is incredible,” the holoimage whispered. “One of the neutron chargers exploded. I’ve taken
interior damage. The shield—”

Maddox scrambled to his feet, rushing to the screen. On it, he witnessed three savage b
eams digging into the vessel’s hull armor.
Victory’s
deflector shield had disappeared. Pieces of starship melted away in great globular clumps.

“Do something!” Maddox shouted.

“Yes, I will attack now,” the holoimage said. “In dying, I will strike a fearful blow.”

A supercharged purple beam lanced out of the starship. It struck the nearest star cruiser. The alien beam boiled against the enemy screen. First
, the shield turned red, then brown and then black. Afterward, the neutron beam speared against the cruiser.

“Yes!” Maddox shouted. “Yes. Yes.”

Star cruiser armor blew apart as the neutron beam dug into the enemy vessel. This was fantastic. The New Men weren’t invincible after all.

“I must attempt the hyper-drive,” the holoimage said. “Otherwise, the enemy will annihilate the great
est starship in history.”

For a terrible moment, intense vertigo overcame Maddox.
His eyesight failed him. He heard roaring sounds. It felt as if he left his body and exotic colors swirled around him. Then everything became quiet. It felt as if he floated in space. The next second, the roaring in his ears and a brilliant flash caused his senses to overload. He felt himself thrashing on the deck and shouting incoherently. Then, every color seemed to fly inward toward him—and normalcy returned to the bridge. It left Maddox blinking and panting on the floor. With strangely rusted muscles, he turned to the holoimage.

“What happened?”

The holoimage had frozen. It said nothing.

Painfully,
Maddox climbed to his feet and checked his screen. No beams burned into
Victory
. He saw the void with its distant stars, and something seemed very wrong. He frowned, trying to figure out what the something was. Then he realized that he no longer saw the red giant.

What does that mean?

Ah, Maddox noticed that he still saw the red nimbus. They were still in the alien star system. Yes, he noticed several wrecks. Yet the red light seemed to come from the wrong direction, from the opposite direction as before.

“It worked,” the holoimage said.

The captain whirled around. The thing was hardly visible, but it moved. “What worked?” Maddox asked.

“The hyper-drive was a success,
” the holoimage said, “although extremely limited in range.”

“We jumped?”

“I suppose that is the correct way to describe it,” the holoimage whispered. “We were there, and now we’re here on the other side of the star. The others are hunting for us with their sensors. If they move to a new position so we’re no longer hidden by the star, they will no doubt find us soon enough.”

“Hyper-drive,” Maddox said. “You can jump without having to use a wormhole.
Why, this is fantastic.”

“Why do you say
so?” the holoimage asked.

“You can escape the New Men. Let’s
go. Let’s jump to a different star system right now.”

“No
,” the holoimage said. “You are incorrect in your assessment for several reasons. Firstly, I will not abandon my home system to these primitive invaders. Secondly, the hyper-drive was badly damaged in its limited use just now. Remember, I said it was experimental in nature. The star drive has become inoperative. Instead, I will use my last robot to effect what repairs I can to ship damage. Then I shall finish the fight with these arrogant whelps.”

“I
hate to say this,” Maddox said, “but I don’t think you can defeat the three star cruisers with the weaponry you have at hand.”

“Perhaps not,” the holoimage
admitted. “But I cannot conceive of a better way to cease existence than fighting for what I love.”

“But—” Maddox said.

“Prepare for the final encounter, Captain.
Victory
is heading back toward the star, seeing if we cannot surprise the enemy.”

Maddox took several steps toward the holoimage and stiffened into parade ground attention. He snapped off the best salute of his life.

“What is the meaning of
your action?” the holoimage asked.

“I formally request permission to offer my full services to you, sir,” Maddox said. “Not only that, but I will give you the complete u
se of my trained technical team to help with ship repairs.”

“
Please, Captain, it is obvious that you indulge in theatrics.”

“No
t so,” Maddox said. “I hate my enemy as much as you must have hated the Swarm.”

“You mean me as the once physical commander,
I take it,” the holoimage said.

“Exactly.”

“Yes. I do dimly recall an emotional aspect to the conflict. It was both upsetting and pleasing.”

“Then you must understand that I will do anything I can to destroy the New Men.”

“Why, yes. I do understand. Hmm, a technical team, you said.”

“You probed my brain,” Maddox said. “You know that I have an excellent engineer in Meta of the Rouen Colony. Not only that, but I have the full use of Doctor Dana Rich. She is a genius and can do anything required of her.”

“I seem to recall you had trouble with Doctor Rich.”

“You’re right,
of course,” Maddox said. “I did have trouble. Now, she has sworn a Star Watch oath. She will do exactly as I command. Since our desires are the same—to inflict as much damage as we can against the New Men—let me return to my team. Through me, you can tell us what to do. We will repair more of the starship than your robot could do on its own. That will allow you to give a better account of yourself.”

“I
am heading straight for the enemy, Captain. We won’t have time for such repairs.”

“Then I suggest you take the time
,” Maddox said. “You’ve waited six thousand years. What are a few more hours in order to achieve lasting glory?”

“
You fail to perceive my goal. I am attempting a death ride, oblivion in the most honorable fashion possible.”

“Honor demands we destroy as many of them as we can
,” Maddox said.

The holoimage froze.

Maddox waited. A desperate gamble had formed in his mind. First, he needed to get back to the others. Could he trick the AI? It struck him as doubtful. Yet, if he could…what bag of marvels did the ancient starship possess? It hadn’t surprised him that the ship was in a state of disrepair or that many of its weapons systems buckled under the strain of battle. If they could escape the star system and return to Earth…

The holoimage moved. “There,” it said, pointing a barely visible arm. “Go through that door until you come to a red-marked hatch. Your team waits by the AI receptacle.”

Maddox noticed a new hatch where a bank of machinery had been. Had the AI been hiding the exit with a holoimage? Whatever the case, for his plan to work, he needed to buy time.

“You
must give us a few hours to help your robot repair failed systems,” the captain said.

“It seems senseless. The New Men are busy searching for us even now. Yet
, maybe you can clear out the damage in my neutron charger. I will give you one hour. Then, I will attack from over the star’s top. It is my best chance of gaining nearness to them so I can rake them with the full power of my beams.”

“Since we are under combat conditions, I will hurry,” Maddox said.

“Go,” the holoimage said. “Time is critical.”

Maddox couldn’t agree more. Lowering his head, he sprinted for the
exit.

***

Lieutenant Noonan picked herself off the decking. They had huddled around the open screen, listening to the dialogue between Maddox and someone they couldn’t hear.

Sergeant
Riker had suggested the captain had taken leave of his senses. Dana had told him not to be ridiculous. If Captain Maddox had gone crazy, how had he figured out where the bridge was and how to use the ship’s systems?

With great interest,
Doctor Rich had listened to Maddox’s one-sided conversation. As Dana groaned from the floor, holding her head, she sat up.

“What happened?” Meta asked.

“We’re still alive,” Dana said. “The engines don’t sound as strained now. The decking isn’t shivering, as it was earlier, either. I think there’s been a pause in the battle.”

“Listen,” Valerie said. “No sound
s are coming out of the screen.”

Just then, something
unseen opened. Valerie perked up, hearing panted breathing. The ancient starship frightened her. The halls of alien dead, of entwined corpses, intensified the feeling until dread had come to fill her.

“Someone’s coming,” Valerie
whispered. She checked her assault rifle. Capture was out of the question. She didn’t want to end her life on a torture pad as Dana almost had on the shuttle. Planning to sell her life as dearly as possible, Valerie aimed down the corridor and was the first to see Captain Maddox. The man sprinted without his vacc-suit and his eyes looked wild.

“Don’t shoot
!” Dana shouted.

Valerie lowered her weapon. She could see Maddox had been through
hell. Well, they all had. Maybe they looked as unsteady to him as he did to her.

He stopped before them with sweat glistening
on his face. “Listen carefully,” Maddox panted. “We have one chance to do this, so there’re can’t be any mistakes.”

“
Do what?” Dana asked.

“Gather round,” Maddox said. “This is going to
sound crazy, but it’s all true.”

He told them what he’d been doing. It did sound insane. It also made sense. Valerie couldn’t see how Maddox could have figured out how to use the alien vessel otherwise.

“It seems to have figured out a way to talk to you by reading your mind’s electrical pathways,” Dana said.

“Whatever,” Maddox whispered. “The point is the
AI has a death wish. Maybe that has fixated its thinking. We have to…” the captain didn’t finish his thought, but he gave them a long, meaningful glance.

“I understand,” Dana said
, with her eyes wide and staring.

Valerie figured
that maybe she did too. Clearly, they had to hijack the starship from the AI. But they couldn’t do it too soon, or the New Men’s star cruisers would destroy
Victory
.

“Does that make sense?” Maddox asked.

“It does,” Dana said.

“I have to go back and talk the AI into a jump attack,” Maddox said. “That means we have to repair the neutron charger
and
the star drive.”

“How much time do we have?” Dana asked.

“He said one hour.”

“You do know that what you suggest is impossible
for us to accomplish?” Dana said.

“I don’t know anything of the kind,” the captain said. “We’re rolling the dice for everything
and looking for snake eyes. Now, let’s go to work.”

Valerie saw the doctor and Meta star
e with disbelief at the captain. That wasn’t going to help. “Yes, sir,” Valerie said. “We’re going to do our best or die trying, Captain.”

Maddox grinned at her. “The
Lord High Admiral picked the right navigator when he sent you, Lieutenant. It has been my distinct pleasure serving with you.”

Valerie
saluted. “The pleasure has been all mine, sir.” She stepped up and thrust out her hand. He gripped it, shaking.

Then
, Captain Maddox solemnly shook each of their hands. “If I don’t see you again—” He looked down, staring at the floor. Looking back up, his smile seemed forced. “Humanity doesn’t know it, but they’re counting on us. I’ve seen what this starship can do. With it, the Commonwealth has a chance. Star Watch might well defend our homes and go on to attack the New Men and end their menace forever. First, though, we have to win here. I know each of you will do your best, and then go beyond that to do what must be done for victory.” He took a deep breath before adding, “Speechmaking time is over. Now, it’s time for action.”

With that
, Captain Maddox spun around and walked away. After three steps, he lowered his head and took off sprinting.

Valerie felt a lump in her throat. She nodded to herself. This hour was why she’d pushed through her suffering in Greater Detroit
to win a spot in the Space Academy. This moment was why she’d climbed into the escape pod and survived the New Men when all her comrades had died in battle in the Pan System.

A robot
on treads wheeled into sight. It was an ugly thing and stopped short. With a mechanical tentacle, it beckoned them.

Valerie swallowed and turned to the others. “We have a job to do. Doctor
. You’d better use your intellect for all it’s worth. Our lives and the lives of humanity back home are resting on it.”

Dana stared at her. “No pressure, Lieutenant?”

“Wrong,” Valerie said. “All the pressure in the galaxy is on you now. I’m wondering if you have what it takes to surmount it.”

Doctor Rich’s eyes seemed to burn for a moment. Then she nodded, beginning to head for the robot. “We shall shortly find out,” Dana said.