The Lost Secret

by Vaughn Heppner

  “Would Captain Maddox agree to that?” Valerie asked.

  Cook’s sudden frown was replaced with a grin. He leaned forward, putting both hands on the desk. “Can I tell you a secret?” he asked in a soft voice.

  Is he going to tell me he finds me attractive? Valerie wondered, as she nodded.

  “I’m in charge of Star Watch, not Captain Maddox.”

  Valerie blinked, blinked, and then she felt heat rush into her cheeks. “Yes, sir, I understand, sir. I didn’t mean to imply—”

  “No worries,” Cook said, as he resumed a normal posture. “Does such a posting interest you?”

  Valerie didn’t hesitate this time. “Yes, sir, I’d be delighted to have such a post.”

  “Good. It’s settled then. I’ll let the captain know at the proper time. Until then, I would appreciate it if you kept this under your hat.”

  “I will, sir.”

  “Excellent,” Cook said, pausing, studying her, blinking and then rising.

  Valerie stood, too.

  Admiral Cook cleared his throat, and it seemed as if he changed his mind about what he was going to say at the last second. “Thank you, Lieutenant Commander. That will be all.”

  Valerie headed for the exit, wondering what Cook had wanted to say. She felt as if she knew…and decided that she was glad he hadn’t asked her out.

  I’m a Lieutenant Commander, and I’m going to command a scout ship out of Victory. She beamed with delight—before she started to worry how that would work when they were deep in the Beyond, and if it would entail clashes with Captain Maddox.

  -5-

  A day later and halfway around the Earth, Captain Maddox cruised 164 kilometers southwest of Maui in a four-man submersible. It was presently on the surface, riding long low swells as Maddox stood in the conn with a pair of sensor-binoculars, studying the sea.

  They’d already searched a wide swath around Maui, having checked out three other pods of killer whales. None of them had possessed an orca with a receiving unit.

  To help in the search, Starship Victory was in orbit high above the Hawaiian Islands. Galyan had come down, the little Adok holoimage personally seeking out each pod ahead of Maddox. Each time, Galyan had informed the captain that none of the pods had the targeted creature. Each time, Maddox had insisted on looking for himself, using the submersible to cruise among the so-called “wolves of the sea.”

  Meta piloted the submersible.

  Andros Crank ran the sensor station. He was a pudgy Kai-Kaus Chief Technician that Maddox had rescued years ago from a Builder Dyson Sphere a thousand light-years from Earth. The captain had rescued ten thousand Kai-Kaus back then.

  Professor Ludendorff had wanted to join the team, but Maddox nixed the idea. The captain felt far too tense to deal with Ludendorff right now.

  Someone wanted his grandmother, damnit. People had been trying to kidnap her for years already. Maddox intended to put a permanent stop to that—no matter what he’d told the Lord High Admiral.

  Maddox stood at the conn, wearing a wetsuit against the salt spray, scanning the ocean. Clouds roiled overhead, adding to the glum atmosphere of the increasingly growing swells.

  Earlier, Maddox had pored over the reports concerning what Brigadier Stokes’ people had discovered about the sailboat and the three former Political Intelligence agents.

  The sailboat had been just that. There hadn’t been any special equipment aboard, certainly nothing to guide trained orcas. Ex-Lieutenant Hans Steiner had rented the boat in Hawaii, paying cash in advance. Steiner had been one of the two with an HMD tattoo. He’d been posted to Earth during Fletcher’s reign over Star Watch, having been in the Geneva HQ Political Intelligence Division. So far, Stokes’ people hadn’t been able to find out what Steiner had been doing since then. The man had disappeared during the counterattack against the Luna Liss cybers, only reappearing yesterday in Maui.

  The other two had served under Steiner back in the day. After the Lord High Admiral Fletcher’s death, they’d remained in the Solar System, working with an organized crime syndicate as “collectors.” Stokes’ people could account for the other two until eighteen days ago. Presumably, that was when Steiner had contacted them. Steiner had been the last one Maddox had shot on the boat.

  Maybe killing the man had been a mistake.

  Maddox gripped the sensor-binoculars tighter. He couldn’t worry about that now. He had to think, to reason this out. Yes. People had tried to kidnap the Iron Lady before. Lisa Meyers’s Merovingians had made a stab for her during the last days of the Luna Liss cybers. His grandmother had heard voices then, too. That had been in Antarctica.

  This has to stop.

  But how could he enforce such a thing…?

  Star Watch had ancient Builder equipment that could go into her head and fix everything. The trouble was that no one knew how to use the mind-altering equipment well enough to suit the Lord High Admiral’s requirements.

  As Maddox considered the problem, his thoughts strayed to the Library Planet Ludendorff had mentioned last mission, the one fifteen hundred light-years away. Might they find the knowledge there that would allow them to use all their Builder items here?

  Maddox straightened as he peered through the sensor-binoculars. He spied—he muttered under his breath.

  Seconds later, Galyan the holoimage drifted from the sea to the conn. Maddox had seen Galyan. He was the image of an Adok, an alien with a small tubular body and ropy arms.

  “I just inspected the pod, sir,” Galyan said in his reedy voice. “None of the killer whales in it has a receiving unit.”

  “Where are they exactly?” Maddox asked.

  “Must we go through this again, sir? You checked my findings each time, and they were always one hundred percent accurate.”

  “If you could just point in their general direction.…”

  In a resigned manner, Galyan did.

  Maddox noted the direction, picked up a microphone and gave Meta the information. In moments, the submersible began heading that way.

  “I have a question for you, sir,” Galyan said.

  “Go ahead, if you must,” Maddox muttered.

  “Why are they called killer whales? The orca does not belong to the whale family, but the porpoise family.”

  “If you’re asking the question, I’d assume you would have already found the answer. Why bother asking me, then?”

  “Is that a rhetorical question, sir?”

  “Why not,” Maddox said.

  Galyan waited in seeming anticipation.

  “Is something wrong?” Maddox asked.

  “In fact, sir, I just tricked you. I am practicing the art of deception in order to add it to my expanding range of options.”

  Maddox lowered the binoculars to stare at the holoimage.

  “Orcas belong to the Toothed Whales or Odontoceti,” Galyan said. “That includes dolphins, porpoises and all other whales possessing teeth, such as the beaked whale and sperm whale.”

  “How wonderful,” Maddox said.

  “Furthermore, the orca belongs to the Oceanic dolphins or Delphinidae—”

  “That’s enough,” Maddox said, as he raised the sensor-binoculars.

  “Yes, sir. Did I just explain myself in too detailed a fashion?”

  Maddox did not respond.

  “I can check on your grandmother, if you like.”

  “That’s all right,” Maddox said.

  On Cook’s orders, Mary had been moved from the civilian hospital to the nearest military facility on Hawaii, or the “Main Island,” as many called it.

  Maddox eyed Galyan, raised his eyebrows and said, “What’s really bothering me is that we haven’t found anything useful. Not even having the boat and bodies helped. An enemy that can cover his tracks that well indicates a thorough and highly dangerous enemy.”

  “Probabilities suggest there are three likely perpetrators,” Galyan said. “Methuselah Woman Lisa Meyers, the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan or the New M
en.”

  Maddox spied something in the distance and raised the binoculars to look. At the same time, his earpiece pinged.

  “Sir,” Andros said through the earpiece. “I’ve spotted the pod. It looks as if they’re diving.”

  “The orcas are submerging,” Maddox told Galyan.

  “The submarine must frighten them.”

  “Or you missed something,” Maddox said.

  “I doubt that, sir.”

  “We’ll see. Come into the sub with me.”

  “Is that an order?” Galyan asked.

  “Yes,” Maddox said, as he lowered the binoculars.

  “My holoimage cannot project far beneath the waves, sir.”

  “No excuses, Galyan.” With that, Maddox began to climb down the hatch so they could submerge and follow the orcas.

  -6-

  The submersible chased the orcas, diving a hundred meters deep. The increasing water pressure caused the hull to creak and moan around them.

  “Should I go outside, sir, and take a look for you?” Galyan asked. “My visibility will be minimal at this depth, but I am finding their behavior odd and recommend that I check on them.”

  Maddox sat at the weapons board. He didn’t have any plans for firing torpedoes at the orcas, but it was this seat or near the head. He’d chosen this one.

  “What was that?” the captain asked.

  “Sir,” Galyan said, as his holoimage flickered. “I am reaching my operational limit under water.”

  “Go upstairs then,” Maddox said. “We can take care of it from here.”

  Galyan vanished.

  Andros turned from his sensor board. “It might have been a good idea for Galyan to check.”

  Maddox frowned. He didn’t like anyone second-guessing his orders.

  Andros might have sensed that and turned back to his board.

  “Are you okay?” Meta asked quietly.

  “What?” Maddox said. “Oh. I’m fine.”

  She gave him a searching look. “What’s troubling you?”

  He almost ignored the question, but said, “I don’t know. It’s odd.” He quit talking, as he realized that he did feel odd. It was… A spot heated up inside his head. He winced, touched his forehead—with a lurch, the captain dove out of the chair and struck the deck with his chest and hands. Immediately, the heat in his head ceased.

  Both Meta and Andros stared at him in surprise.

  Maddox sat up, looking around wildly. He saw a flicker, and it moved toward him. “Ghost image!” he shouted.

  “Galyan!” Andros shouted. “Galyan, report back at once.”

  Meta gave Andros a weird look.

  Maddox rolled and jerked his head out of the way.

  Meta’s eyebrows rose. Maybe she finally understood. She immediately changed their direction of travel, heading up instead of down.

  Andros clicked a switch on a panel, speaking toward it. “Victory, come in Victory. A ghost image is attacking the captain. Galyan, we urgently need your assistance.”

  Maddox rolled again. He wasn’t going to give the ghost image time to do to him as Galyan had done to others in the past.

  A fuzzy Galyan reappeared. His Adok eyes flickered, and he disappeared and reappeared elsewhere in the sub. He sizzled— “Done,” Galyan said. “I broke its link.”

  “Can you trace it?” Maddox asked as he climbed to his feet.

  “I could have if I had not burned out the enemy holoimage.”

  “Did it use the same ghost-imaging technology as you use on Victory?” Maddox asked.

  “Unknown at the moment,” Galyan said. “It would appear the enemy targeted you, perhaps trying to burn out your mind.”

  The three humans glanced at each other.

  “Your grandmother,” Meta said. “Will they try this against her?”

  “Galyan, go check on her,” Maddox said.

  The holoimage vanished.

  Andros’s panel began to ping. He turned to it, studying the readings and shouted, “Sir, the orcas are heading for us. They’ve moving fast.”

  Maddox stepped behind Andros, putting his hands on the man’s thick back. The captain peered at the sensor panel: nine dots headed toward the submersible.

  “Take us up faster,” Maddox told his wife.

  Meta complied as the submersible picked up speed.

  “Are the whales trying to ram the sub?” Andros asked.

  “Galyan!” Maddox shouted. “Galyan, come back.”

  The Adok holoimage did not reappear.

  Maddox bared his teeth as he studied the sensor panel. The killer whales converged upon the sub, picking up speed. He needed Galyan to reexamine the orcas. But if the holoimage couldn’t do so…should he allow the nine huge “wolves of the sea” to smash against their submersible, possibly causing a hull rupture and sinking them?

  Almost without conscious thought, Maddox found himself at the weapons board. He manipulated the panel, and the submersible shuddered as it launched a torpedo.

  “Are they still coming?” Maddox asked.

  “Faster than before,” Andros said, staring at his board.

  Maddox flipped a switch, going to manual control of the torpedo he’d just launched. He hated killing such creatures, but he wasn’t going to let them eliminate his wife and crew, and possibly aid the enemy in murdering or capturing his grandmother later.

  Maddox pressed another switch. It must have been his imagination, but he heard a crump. He stood and went to Andros.

  The Kai-Kaus Chief Technician looked up. “They’re not moving anymore.”

  “You killed them?” Meta asked from the helm.

  “Or stunned them, maybe,” Maddox said. “They’re susceptible to loud sounds, because they use natural sonar. Still, it was them or us, and I definitely prefer it be them.”

  “Agreed…” Meta said a moment later. She frowned. “Did someone steer the orcas at us?”

  “I have no other explanation for what just happened,” Maddox said. “Galyan,” he called.

  The little holoimage finally appeared. “I am sorry, sir. There was a complication with your grandmother.”

  “An attack against her?”

  “Yes, sir,” Galyan said. “It was the same sort as against you with the enemy ghost image. As soon as the enemy perceived my presence, it fled. I was thus unable to trace its origin point.”

  Maddox slapped a thigh before he turned in a slow circle. He had a secret enemy, and he or she was attacking his grandmother.

  Meta stood with a warm hand on one of his forearms. She rubbed his arm and then gripped it tight.

  Maddox stared at his wife.

  “You must act like the best Captain Maddox,” Meta whispered. “You can’t solve this through anger or rage. You must use your usual methods—your logic and Intelligence training. And your determination.”

  A knot formed in the captain’s chest, hardening into resolve. They wanted to kill or capture his grandmother. He wasn’t going to let that happen. He was going to make them pay… Maddox stood utterly still, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, there was something different: cold, fierce resolve. He nodded slightly, and some of the maniacal feeling drained away. In its place was the implacable will that normally drove him.

  He turned to Meta and kissed her. Then he patted her on the ass. “Take us up, love. It’s time to get serious.”

  -7-

  Maddox did some hard thinking as the submersible shot for the surface. Whoever had attacked him and his grandmother knew far too much about Star Watch and had access to state-of-the-art Victory technology. He suspected Methuselah Woman Lisa Meyers, but that seemed hard to believe. She’d barely escaped with her life aboard an ex-Star Watch heavy cruiser, having fled from the mobile null region before a near-speed-of-light asteroid had taken out the critical control planet. That had happened several months ago. Could Meyers have turned it around this fast to resume her offensive against Star Watch?

  Maddox deemed that
unlikely, but perhaps a Lisa Meyers confederate had been making these attacks.

  Galyan suggested other possibilities: the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan or the New Men. The SHL had an empire in the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm. Could they have infiltrated agents into the Commonwealth already?

  It was possible, of course, but Maddox didn’t think so. As far as he knew, the Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan didn’t even know the location of the Commonwealth. His short contact with them for a few days—

  Maddox shook his head. Until he had more reason, he would not suspect the distant aliens.

  That left the New Men. Would they be ready to start a conflict with Star Watch?

  Maddox doubted it. Relations with the Throne World New Men had been going well lately. Golden Ural had brought out a Throne World fleet, helping Star Watch defeat the combined forces of Lord Drakos and Commander Thrax Ti Ix in a climatic space battle. Could this be another like Drakos, a rogue New Man acting on his own? Maddox hadn’t heard anything about a new faction arising among the New Men. It was possible, but unlikely.

  Hmm…

  Galyan had suggested the three most likely candidates, logically reasoning it out with his AI abilities.

  The submersible popped to the surface, each occupant swaying in his or her seat.

  “We’re here,” Meta declared needlessly.

  Maddox was already out of his seat, climbing the short ladder, opening the upper hatch. Water and spray sluiced down. He climbed up, greeted by another dose of salt water. The sky was dark, the waves and swells bigger than before.

  Maddox pulled out his communicator as he looked up at the clouds. “Victory, come in, Victory.”

  “This is Lieutenant Maker speaking.”

  “Put Valerie on.”

  “Oh, it’s you, sir. Valerie isn’t here.”

  “Where is she?”

  “Ah…Geneva,” Keith said.

  Maddox blinked in surprise before ignoring the information. For at that moment, he made his decision. It was obvious now that he considered it logically and dispassionately. He would have asked Keith to summon Ludendorff, but this wasn’t the right medium for the professor and him to discuss the solution to the problem. Maddox didn’t want anyone hacking the transmission.