The Lost Starship (39 page)

Then
, Valerie released the rifle as she began to roar and rave. Pushing with her feet, she collided with the thing so hard her teeth jarred together with a
click
. She shoved as her vacc-boots kept moving, straining against the robot. Mechanical tentacles struck her helmet and whipped against her shoulders. Her cries changed to those of pain. A last convulsive effort gave her more strength. She toppled the robot and rolled free of it. With sweat dripping into her eyes, she scrambled to the assault rifle lying on the deck. She jammed in a new magazine. As the robot’s treads spun and the tentacles attempted to right itself, she shoved the muzzle through a torn area. Valerie pulled the trigger, pumping slugs into the undying robot. Finally, smoke billowed from the thing. Flames flickered, and the robot’s efforts weakened until it no longer mattered.

Exhausted,
Lieutenant Noonan staggered away from the alien machine, crashing onto her butt as she panted. She didn’t know if they had won or lost, but she sure as heck felt as if she’d done her part.

***

On the starship’s bridge, the holoimage raged at Captain Maddox. “You traitor! You lied to me. Your people are attempting to gain control over my AI core. I will drop the deflector shield and let both enemy beams strike the ship into oblivion.”

“Wait
!” Maddox said. “They aren’t supposed to be doing that. My crew is attacking you?”

“
What?” the holoimage asked. “They’re doing this against your orders?”

“Of course,” Maddox said, trying to gain time
for whatever the others were attempting. “I have too much respect for you to do anything other than serve you. Strengthen the deflector shield. Use everything you can against the New Men while I stop my team from hurting you.”

“No. It
’s too late for all of us. Can’t you hear the interior destruction?”

Maddox heard something
, all right, as explosions shook the starship.

At that moment, several things occurred at once.
The holoimage faded away. As it did, vertigo struck Maddox again. He couldn’t tell which way was up or down, right or left. It felt as if he was frozen in time. Expectantly, he waited for colors to smash against him and normalcy to return. It felt as if they jumped again. The
frozenness
stretched longer and longer.

Finally, with great effort, Maddox turned his head. He realized that he no longer heard the enemy beam
s destroying interior ship’s systems and bulkheads.

Are we in hyperspace? Did Dana take over the starship’s AI
and force it to jump? What’s going on?

S
lowly, Maddox inhaled. As he blinked, he felt his eyelashes intertwine with each other. Time seemed to have slowed an immeasurable amount.

I have to see what’s wrong
.

He began to turn
around. It seemed to go on forever and ever. Finally, he rose from his seated position. Then, the riot of colors flooded his senses. A roaring sound invaded his hearing, and his nose seemed clogged with scents. He bellowed, and his descending foot slid out from under him. With a thump, he crashed against the deck, laying there panting in bewilderment.

What just happened? Are we still in battle?

He listened, but he didn’t hear anything telltale. Maddox closed his eyes, exhausted.
I can’t just lay here. I have to see what happened
.

Captain Maddox struggled to his feet. The screen showed him the void of space. He couldn’t see the red giant
star or the enemy cruisers. No wrecks drifted outside and no planetary rubble showed what used to be worlds.

Did we just jump
then, as I first suspected? How far did we go?

A laugh escaped hi
s lips. Maddox was certain they were no longer in battle or in the alien star system. He pressed his lips together, containing the laughter. It was time to figure out if they had just won or lost.

It turned out they had won…after a fashion, Maddox decided.

A day after the battle,
Victory
drifted in the void three light years from the alien star system. The vessel wasn’t near another star, but in the middle of nowhere. The craft had made the jump in one large bound.

The red giant blazed its light, the brightest object in the darkness.

The alien ship had taken severe damage from the star cruisers. Entire sections of the vessel were off limits because they were smashed wreckage now open to space. Perhaps one third of the craft lacked an atmosphere because the stellar vacuum drifted through it. In certain places, the crew had to take large detours to get from one point to another.

Still, they had survived the encounter with the New Men.
No more fires raged or energy dissipated in the starship. They had fully acquired
Victory
, and they were in no immediate danger of destruction. Those were the good points. The bad troubled Maddox and severely depressed the crew. They had a two-week supply of food, at best. Dana had found a water supply, so they wouldn’t die of dehydration. The star drive needed repair before it could work again. Once it began working—if they ever reached that point—they weren’t sure they could keep it functional for long. They lacked a Laumer Drive, so they couldn’t use the regular tramlines. Earth was three hundred light years away. With
Victory’s
present star drive, they wouldn’t remotely reach the Oikumene, never mind the Commonwealth of Planets or Earth, before the drive failed for good. And, without this ship in the Star Watch’s possession, nothing Maddox and the others had done out here mattered in a grand strategic sense.

“
There’s only one way we’re going to survive more than a few weeks,” Dana said. “We have to repair the ship.”

T
hey met in a chamber with low chairs and what they used for a table. It was warm in here, so they didn’t have to wear their vacc-suits. That was good, because the last tanks only had a half-supply of air left.

“Okay,
” Keith said, as he twirled what looked like a key ring, “we need to fix stuff. What do we try to repair first?”

“
That’s easy,” Dana said, “the star drive. Without it, we’re trapped in the void with no way of changing our fate.”

Valerie set
a tube she’d been fiddling with onto the table. “I’m still worried about the AI. You told us before it isn’t dead. You just cut it off from the ship’s controls.”

Doctor Rich nodded.
“That’s right. It’s alive and likely brooding, if such a thing is possible.”

“The AI must know of ways to bypass what you did,” Valerie said.
“Maybe it’s secretly working to regain control of its ship.”

“
No. I don’t think so,” Dana said. “Think of the AI as a genie, and we’ve corked its bottle. It’s not getting out unless we first pry out the stopper.”

Maddox cleared his throat.
“We must work under the assumption the AI will remain inoperative for a time. In that way, Doctor Rich is correct. Our primary goal is to fix the star drive. That will be your department, Doctor and Meta. I’m giving you Keith and Riker as helpers.”

The sergeant sat morosely
in a corner. His bionic hand opened and closed with faint
whirring
sounds. Meta also seemed despondent, with her elbows on the table and her eyes staring and distant.

First glancing at Meta and then looking back at the captain, Dana said, “
I’d also like Valerie’s help.”

“No,” Maddox said. “
Lieutenant Noonan will help me. Once we figure out how to use the ship’s sensors, we’re going to scour space for a clue as to where we should go next. We’re deep in the Beyond. That doesn’t necessarily mean a lack of humans. We’re going to search for planetary industrial signs. If nothing else, if we find such a system, we can go there and fill our food stores. At best, we’ll also gain technical help to effect fuller repairs. I suspect we’ll only fix everything at a Star Watch dockyard.”

“Trying to bargain for repairs in a human-run star system out here in the Beyond would be dangerous,” Dana said. “
The starship is a fantastic prize. It has alien technology that includes a new beam, a better shield and a completely new star drive that bypasses tramlines. Whoever captures the ship will be tremendously wealthy. Greed motivates people do to nasty things.”

Maddox took his time answering. Did he detect avarice in the doctor’s eyes? He didn’t want to believe it. She had taken the Star Watch oath. Would she hold to it? Or would Doctor Rich think of it as some lesser superstition she’d taken to build morale at the most critical junc
ture of the trip? Without Dana, none of this would have been possible. Maddox didn’t want her for an opponent again. He needed her to remain one hundred percent on the team.

“I’m not speaking
about riches for myself,” Dana said, “if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Of course not,” Maddox said.

“I’m merely saying we have to worry about hijackers if we enter a technologically advanced star system. There’s something else, too. People in the past fled into the Beyond for a reason. Usually, the emigrants were odd in some way. Those oddities might trip us up if we go into their star system.”

“There are dangers all around
us,” Maddox agreed, “but we have a deadly warship. People will trifle with us at their peril.”

“
The starship has sustained heavy and obvious damage,” Dana said. “We’re limited in what we can do, and people are going to know it. That’s provided we can even get the star drive working again.”

“And that we can find such a technologically advanced star system somewhere close by,” Valerie
added.

“Nevertheless,” Maddox said, “we have the neutron beam and a sturdy shield.
We can fight whoever thinks to cheat us.”

“Once we repair the deflector generators
, you’ll have a shield again,” Dana said. “I don’t even know if any of the other ship’s systems are repairable. The star drive has taken all my thoughts and energy. We have to restore it
now
.”

“Agreed,” said Maddox. “That
’s why you’ll continue attacking the problem with Meta, Keith and Riker helping you.”

Both Maddox and Dana glanced at Meta.

The former two G miner continued to stare forlornly at a distant and unseen point.

“Meta,” Dana said softly. “Is anything the matter?”

Slowly, Meta turned her head. She no longer had her hair bound up. It now swept forward, partially hiding her features. From what Maddox could see, her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy.

“We’re stranded
in the void,” Meta said. “We’re fast running out of food. My metabolism runs hotter than ordinary. I’ll starve long before anyone else does.”

Maddox had wondered th
e same thing about himself.

“You can’t give up now,” Dana
told her. “We’re closer to winning everything than ever before.”

Meta made a soft sound. “Do you know how long I’ve been hearing that? Try all of my life. Every time I win, I land in something worse. I thought the prison planet was the height of despair.
Wrong. It’s being in a starship that can’t jump, with food and hope quickly dwindling into nothing.”

“No, no,” Dana said, obviously pumping heartiness into her voice. “We have a window of opportunity. This is the time to use it. You have strength and wits. We can eat for a little while
longer. During that time, let’s work like demons and fix what we can. If we fail, well, we can worry about it as our stomachs shrivel into nothing. Until then, I’ll fight with all my strength against the universe. I’m not going to let it beat me. And if it does, well, it will know that it has been in the fight of its life.”

Meta turned weary eyes onto Doctor Rich. “I realize that’s
one of your strengths. You refuse to quit. You’re remorseless and never say die. I’m finally seeing that every victory lands me in a worse position. Can’t you understand how demoralizing that is?”

“Bah!” Dana said, chopping a hand through the air. “I can
’t accept defeatism from you of all people. Do you remember all those monotonous months on Loki Prime? You were the most stalwart Temple Savant of the lot. Your positive attitude was more valuable than your mechanical shrewdness and strength. It’s the person who keeps trying that eventually wins.”

Meta sighed
wistfully.

Looking away, Maddox realized
something he hadn’t suspected before. Dana needed Meta. Maybe the Rouen Colony woman was the only real friend Dana Rich had ever had. The doctor needed someone who believed in her. That was interesting. As their leader, he couldn’t afford to let any of them wallow in despair. Turning back to them, Maddox reached across the table and put a hand over one of Meta’s.

She looked up sharply, staring at him.

“I wish you’d come with me,” he said. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Where
do you want to go?” Meta asked in a lifeless voice.

“
Outside,” he said, removing his hand and standing. For several seconds, he didn’t think she would respond further.

Finally, with a heave,
Meta stood.

“This way,” he said, motioning with his head. As he headed for the hatch, Captain Maddox didn’t wonder what he was going to do
or say. For months, he’d fought to reach the alien starship. Now, the thing was in his possession. That was phenomenal. Not only that, but he’d faced three star cruisers, destroyed one and lived to tell about it. Now, he had to get this relic back to Earth.

Behind him, Meta closed the hatch.

Maddox kept walking down the corridor. He used a well-worn path, avoiding any crusted slime. When they stepped on the ancient substance, it put noxious fumes in the air. He walked until they turned a corner and the hatch was out of sight.

“Where are you headed?”
Meta finally asked.

He heard the difference in her voice. She sounded exasperated instead of hopeless. H
is present action seemed to have stirred a tiny amount of anger in her. Maybe all wasn’t lost with the beautiful ex-miner. Maddox couldn’t believe it, but he found his heart racing and his palms becoming moist.

Something about
Meta’s voice had driven him to notice her from the beginning. Her face was like a magnet to his eyes. He could be staring off into space and suddenly, he’d realize he was staring at her. He would look away, and soon he would find himself gazing at her sidelong. Not only that, but her shape tantalized him.

“Captain Maddox,”
Meta said, and there was more than a hint of anger in her voice. “I’m not walking any farther until you tell me what this is about.”

He turned around, facing her. “I don’t understand you,” he said.

“That isn’t surprising. I don’t think you understand anyone.”

He grinned. He couldn’t help it.

“You find that amusing, do you?” she asked.

“You’re beautiful,” he
told her.

Meta
shook her head, making her dark hair swish back and forth. “No. You’d better not try any more of your tricks. If you do, I’m going to break an arm.”

“That’s better than quitting
and moping.”

“Oh, I see,” she said. “You think you can perk me up with your witty ways.
Well, it won’t work.”

S
tepping closer, he said, “That’s exactly what I think.”

She watched him warily and
raised her hands as if ready to enter a combat stance.

Maddox’s grin widened. He had been far too engaged
with the quest these past weeks to try something like this. Now…well, why not press this beautiful creature against his chest? More than ever, he found himself wanting to kiss her and have her passionately kiss him back.

“Don’t try it,” Meta warned.

Maddox moved in, and Meta thrust a knee at this groin. He blocked with his leg but the crash of her knee against his thigh caused him to stagger back.

Meta laughed
as Maddox regained his balance. “I warned you,” she said, and there was humor in her eyes.

“You did
warn me,” he said. “Yet, that’s why I asked you to come out here.”

“For me to thrash you?” she asked.

“No,” he said, “to show you the power of persistence.” He moved at her again. Once more, she thrust a knee at his groin. He slipped to the side so her strike failed to connect. That caused Meta to lose her balance. She stumbled as he moved back, catching her in his embrace. For a moment, Maddox held the stunning woman in his arms. He felt her against him, and he bent his head, kissing her.

The Rouen Colony woman melted into his embrace. She gripped him,
giving him a rib-shifting hug.

“Are you sure about this, Captain Maddox?”
Meta whispered, staring into his eyes.

He almost lost his breath
from her hug. Instead of admitting defeat—she kept squeezing—he hugged her back with his considerable strength. Then, he bent his head again and kissed her longer than before. This time, she returned it as the power of her hug lessened to something tolerable.